Rise of A Dark King
by Naga's Shadow
Summary: Attacked by his enemies, framed by the ministry,and betrayed by his friends Harry Potter is cast into the darkness. Only to be saved by the most unlikey person.
1. Prologue

Arrgh! Yet another betrayed Azkaban Harry Fic, after all everyone wants to write one right? I hope that anyone who takes a look at this will see that I'm trying to stray from the beaten path. This will be a Dark Harry fic and will have sexually graphic situations at some point. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated works are the sole property of J.K.R.

Prologue

The man sat in a semi dark cell. His cell, no his home, was a seven foot square. Three walls were stone, with no windows or anything that you'd associate with the word comfort. The fourth wall was composed of metal bars that dropped from the ceiling. He called it a wall since he'd never seen the supposed door open. When he awoke here it was like that and food was given to him twice a day through a grate. He was seated on the only piece of furniture in the room, an old mattress that ran the length of one of the walls. He would have moved it if he could but it was bolted to the ground. Not that there was much place to put it, the other side was where the loo was. Well it was only a hole in the ground but it didn't smell much and seemed to have running water. The reason he wanted to move his bed was because the only lights in the area were outside his cell. They were at the end of the hall and his bathroom was always in the dark. Of course this meant that his cot was always lit. Even at night a small light was still on. Well he assumed it was night he hadn't seen the sun in two months, and it showed. His skin was far paler than normal. The lack of wholesome food had left him skin and bones. Not that he had much in terms of mass before…

_No. I will not get stuck in that trap again they are coming!_ He admonished himself.

Sure enough he felt the chill that pervaded the air increase. His cellmates could be heard moaning next to him. He never talked to them; they didn't want to talk to him anyway. He sat by the edge of his cell so he could see down the hall about ten feet, all the while slamming his already impressive mental shields to full alert. Then he could see them, the dreaded guards that gave this place its reputation as hell on earth, dementors.

The creature was seven feet tall; if it had any feet it did not use them. Instead it just glided along letting its frayed black robe drag across the ground. Its arms were at its side hidden from view by the oversize robe. The moans grew louder as the creature passed his neighbor's cells. Dementors made you relive your worst memories and the people here all had plenty of things that they didn't want to remember. This particular prisoner had learned to completely block the creatures out after a month here. The first few weeks had been hell. With these creatures around every half an hour and nightmares and visions whenever he tried to sleep. Now they didn't bother him at all, save for the cold feeling they produced. The demenntor took five minutes to reach his cell; it would stop and bask in the terror of the other people in his cellblock. When it got to him it stopped and looked at him. Its faced was totally hidden within its cowl. With what could almost be described as an annoyed snort the creature turned and continued on. The prisoner looked back towards the entrance, more people were moaning now. The dementor would be back around in about fifteen minutes so why were they making noise now? A second black cloak could be seen coming forward.

_They never traveled in twos. Where they here to get someone?_

_No the guards always did that._

As this particular one got close to him he could feel the already cold room drop to almost artic conditions. This one was far stronger than the last one. As it got closer he could feel the effect starting to take over. The distant screams that he associated with his mother and Cedic and Sirius and that night. He quickly threw up even more barriers. Where as the last one didn't affect him this one was going to bring up his darkest memories if he didn't stop it. By the time it floated up to him, he'd focused enough that the roaring darkness was just a dull ache. He knew he'd have a headache latter but that was better than his past. Like the last one it also turned to him regarding him as if to wonder why it wasn't being fed. This time he stood and returned its gaze. His five foot six frame was nothing compared to this one, which like the others just topped seven feet.

"Your different than the others, much more powerful." His voice was soft and scratchy; he hadn't used it in a while and was unsure of its power. The dementor, which had been turning away from this oddity stopped and turned to face him.

"As are you." Its voice sounded like ice, cutting through everything in the area. His shields buckled but held at the dementor turned its attention to him.

"I have not had anyone that could approach me in over a hundred years." It continued. He wondered why the others never talked.

"I get out so very little, I think I will visit you more often."

"Well its not like I am going anywhere." His attempt at humor was lost on the creature.

"Tell me human, what is your name?"

He shrugged. _What do I have to lose?_

"My name's Harry. Harry Potter."


	2. Neri'Ckuhdar'Darracun

AN>: If i didn't mention this before this takes place post OOP and ignores HBP. /AN>

Chapter 1

Neri'Ckuhdar'Darracun 

The creature regarded him for several seconds before nodding slightly.

"Harry I think that I will talk to you again." Then it turned and floated away.

"Wait." It stopped, but didn't turn around. "Won't you tell me your name?"

_Do dementors even have names?_

"My name is Neri'Ckuhdar'Darracun." Then it continued down the corridor in its usual patrol pattern. Neither of the creatures made any attempt to contact him as they passed while leaving. When they were gone and the chill retreated Harry sat on his cot to think about what had just happened.

They've never talked to me before; most of them just ignore me. I guess they can't feed if you're not afraid of them.

He slowly lay down and after meditating for about ten minutes he drifted off to sleep, certain his barriers would protect him from any visions that he might have. When the next patrol came through half an hour latter he didn't even stir.

The dementor did not return for almost two weeks. Harry didn't know what time it was. He only keep track of days by counting his meals, that came like clockwork.

But then it was there, battering aside his defenses as it stood next to his cell. He had been ignoring the others but this one was so powerful that he couldn't subconsciously fight it. His dreams shifted from the pleasant but fleeting things that most people dreamed of to the nightmares of people walking into the veil and cursing him before they went, bloody figures screaming for his help. Harry awoke in a cold sweat turning his head to see the creature watching him. Furiously he focused his natural occulmancy barriers he had to dull the screams he could hear in the background.

"What are you doing here?"

"I said that I would return when I could and the guards are occupied." Its voice seemed softer than the first time, not that nails against a chalkboard was any less disconcerting than ice on ice. Before Harry had a chance to ask why it didn't want the guards to see it, the creature continued to talk.

"May I come in?"

"How would you manage that?"

"I take that as a yes." Harry dumbly nodded; maybe letting this soul stealer in wasn't the best thing to do.

The creature waved its hands in front of the cell. The bars didn't move but Harry immediately felt something, magic. The ward that prevented the use of magic had been lowered.

I didn't know that they could even manipulate magic.

Then suddenly the dementor was inside the cell. There was no popping to signal an apperation but instead the creature just blurred out and simultaneously appeared inside the cell. Harry started but kept himself from jumping out of his bed.

"How did you do that?"

"I can teleport."

Like that explained everything.

The two regarded each other from across the room for several seconds before the dementor asked another question. Then slowly at first they talked. Neither wanted to breach the topic of their pasts and instead talked about the prison, the nearby prisoners, and the guards. When the dementor left, taking care to reactivate the wards around his cell, Harry felt strangely better. Not because the mind numbing presence was leaving, he'd gotten used to blocking out its power, but because he had someone to talk to. Considering how fast the meal arrived after Neri'Ckuhdar'Darracun left, they must have talked for at least three hours. He had to find a shorter name for that dementor.

He hadn't learned anything about the dementors. Neri, as he'd settled on, had avoided that subject. But he couldn't fault it for not talking about itself. Harry hadn't mentioned any of his former friends, or his past experiences. They were too painful to talk about right now, so soon after…

Get a grip on yourself Harry.

He didn't really understand how they'd managed to talk for so long while artfully dancing around just about every possible common ground they had. After all Harry had no plans on sharing about his experiences with Neri's kin.

Neri returned the next day and they talked about a sorts of nonsensical things before Harry got up the courage to ask Neri about it self. It was their third late night meeting and they were winding down a debate over the meaning of life when Harry finally asked.

"Neri?"

Uhoh.

"What did you call me?"

"Well your name is very long and the second part is hard to pronounce and all. Can I call you that?" The cloaked figure just starred.

Ah hell its gonna kill me.

"You do call me just Harry after all." Its shoulders moved, almost like a shrug.

"Very well Harry. You wanted to ask me something didn't you."

"Yeah. W-well what do you really look like?"

"Our bodies have long since decayed. Some of us still have flesh, but only are bones are preserved by our magic. I am nothing but a skeleton."

"Oh." Harry had really wondered.

_But just a skeleton I don't really want to see that._

"Perhaps..." The dementor started to glow.

"Perhaps what?" Neri gave no answer and the light intensified, it was very bright but somehow dark. When the light receded Neri had shrunk. Then it moved. No it hadn't shrunk it was no longer hovering like it always did. Neri was only slightly taller than him when it chose not to hover. The lose fabric of the robe was dragging across the floor as the outline of Neri's legs could be seen walking across the floor towards him. Harry had always sat on the bed and Neri had stood in the center of the opposite wall.

"What did you do?" Again no answer. Neri stopped at the foot of the bed and lifted its arms to the cowl around its head. As the fabric fell back Harry gasped when he saw Neri's hands sticking out. He had seen a skeletal hand on the dementor that had attacked him on the train all those years ago. And Neri had said that it was nothing but bones. But what he saw was certainly not bones. A pair of pale hands traveled up and grasped the cowl then let it fall back. Neri's hands were very pale, almost white, but still looked very much alive. The fingers were longer than what you would call normal but they weren't wrinkled or shriveled and didn't look like that of a skeleton's or a mummy's at all. That didn't say anything about its, no her, face. Neri's face was angular, she had distinctively aristocratic features but was still young and quite beautiful. She had gray eyes and almost white blond hair that fell down into her robe. Kind of like a Mafloy…

No, not going to think about them.

She sat down next to him. The black robe that had previously shown none of her features now clung to her very feminine figure. As she sat some of her hair moved aside and he was able to see her ears. They were swept up and lobe less.

"You're an elf?" She smiled at that.

"This body was once one of the now extinct species called the high elves." The chilly voice that he'd gotten used to sounded very cold and disconcerting coming from the vision of beauty that sat beside him.

"I don't get it. You said you were…"

"Humans put far to much emphasis on physical appearance. What you see is just an illusion; my body hasn't looked like this in over 5000 years. I merely decided not to shock you into a stupor. Your ideas towards life are quite interesting and I'd not like to lose my only companion in such a long time."

"Wait, only companion. What about all the other dementors?"

"You know absolutely nothing about our kind do you?"

"Besides that you feed on happy feelings and can suck a persons soul out of their mouth, no." Neri laughed, the effect was incredibly chilling. While the stunning elf laughing put him at ease the sound was horrible.

"That's not even all correct. Well I guess not delving into such topics couldn't last forever. But if you want to know about my people then you have to share about your past as well." Harry hesitated, he really had hated reliving such things but this was better that with just being near one without his shields in place right?

"O-Okay. But I did ask first."

"Well… where to start. Dementors are a hive society, one independent dementor is not even qualified a sentient. The hive conciseness on the other hand is quite intelligent. I am the queen of this hive."

"How big is your hive?"

"Well there are seven hives worldwide, all the dementors in Britain and some of France are under the hive's control."

_Damn she's been controlling ever dementor I've ever fought and she hasn't killed me.  
Why?_

"The hive's not just yours?"

"There is a hive consciousness. I guide the hive but I am not the hive. My position as queen makes me much more powerful than your average dementor and allows me free will." She stopped and looked at Harry, as if to see if he understood. He nodded slightly.

"The hive itself exists on sort of a parallel dimension where ever soul that we control resides. Each dementor is composed of a pseudo-soul of sorts. We create their souls by combining the souls that we have collected. Each dementor is composed of four other souls. They only have full range of sentience when they are connected to the collective. Because I am made up of twenty souls I can think outside of the collective."

No wonder she was so strong, probably five times that of a normal dementor.

"Isn't soul magic very dark?"

"Darkness and light are constructs of lesser sentient creatures who seek to come to grip with their own lack of perfection." She snorted.

Okay avoid that topic from now on.

"I told you about my people, why are you here?"

I knew I had to tell someone eventually.

"I was framed."

"I'm sure everyone here has some story about why they don't belong here. Why don't you tell me your whole story and let me decide." Harry let out a long sigh.

"Okay. Well it all started like this."

FLASHBACK 

It was raining outside. Harry was sitting in his bed, staring at the wall. Even though it was almost one in the morning Harry had no plans on going to sleep. The nightmares were to bad, he'd only been home for about half a week and the events at the departments of mysteries still weighed heavily on him. Sirius' death hurt the most of all. It had been a trap and not only had he fallen for it, he'd nearly gotten his friends killed in the process. He had gotten his godfather killed. The fact that he hadn't cast the spell meant nothing. Then Dumbeldore had dropped that prophecy on him. What type of bullshit is that? '…one must die at the hands of the other…' how I'm I supposed to kill something that might as well be immortal? A better question was how is that supposed to justify all the time spent with his miserable relatives. If Sirius was here I could stay with him, but that just dragged him back into the cycle of hating himself for his godfather's death. Tears came unbidden to his eyes. He hadn't properly grieved since that night, he'd spent far to much time blaming himself. But his pity party was interrupted by a knock at the door.

_Who would be knocking at this time of night?_

Harry picked up his wand and crept down the steps. He could hear Uncle Vernon rising from above him.

"Boy that had better not be any of your freak friends."

Harry desperately hopped so as well, he didn't want to talk to any of them yet. But his fears were confirmed when he opened the door. It was Tonks. Harry could here Vernon's footsteps coming closer.

"Hello Harry, I need to speak to you outside."

She stepped back and waited for him. What's wrong with her, no enthusiastic greeting? No wotcher. She seemed dead. It's got to be because she was close to Sirius too. They were cousins after all and knew each other far better than he knew me. There's another person I've hurt. He could hear Vernon on the top of the stairs now. Harry nodded and stepped out into the rain. She had walked to the middle of the yard and was waiting, Harry followed.

"Look Tonks, I'm sorry. About Sirius, about everything."

She made no sound.

Great so she's not talking to me. Then why'd she ask me to come out here? Then he noticed two figures across the street, they were wearing black robes and in a flash of lightning he caught sight of familiar white masks.

"Tonks, death eaters!" He brought his wand forward and then grunted when he was grabbed from behind.

"Tonks what are you…" The odd mannerisms, its not grief, she's under an imperious curse!

He struggled but she quickly disarmed him and forced him to the ground with one hand, she held his wand with her other hand. The taller of the two death eaters took the wand and pocketed it.

"What in blazes is going on!" Vernon now stood in the doorway. As he saw Harry pinned to the ground he laughed.

"Finally getting what you deserve boy."

"Indeed." The taller death eater snapped his wand up and muttered impero. Vernon's gaze went slack and he just stood there.

"Well invite us in muggle."

"Yes, would you like to come in." Vernon got out of the way, as the shorter death eater walked in followed by Tonks holding Harry and then the taller death eater. As soon as they were inside the taller one nodded to the shorter one and then proceeded to lock the door and place silencing and privacy wards on the doors and windows. The shorter one disappeared upstairs.

"Tonks fight it, I know you can." The death eater lashed out and punched Harry in the gut. He gasped and sagged, Tonks kept him from falling.

"You'll shut your mouth child."

Minutes latter the shorter death eater came down stairs floating besides him where the bound and stunned bodies of Dudley and Aunt Petunia. He sat them up on the couch and told Vernon to sit down as well. Then the taller one handed the shorter one Harry's wand. Oh no, he thought.

"Remember only the men, she is connected to the wards."

"No stop." Harry was rewarded with another punch for that. Two green curses latter Dudley and Vernon Duresley were dead.

"Well now that most of the filth is gone we can disperse with the pleasantries." The death eaters removed their masks, a pair of far to familiar blonds stood before him now. Draco and Lucius Mafloy.

"Not so big now are you Potty." Draco smirked and twirled Harry's wand.

"Release him." Tonks obeyed, and as Harry rose charging at the younger Mafloy he ate a cruciatus curse from the older Mafloy.

"Temper Potter." A soon as Lucius released him Draco hit him with another of the pain curses. As far as cruciatus curses go Draco's was pathetic and even Lucius was nothing compared to the pain that Voldemort had dished out in that graveyard. Unfortunately they had the anger to hold the curse, and no matter how many times you felt the familiar sensation of hot knives skinning you alive, you still couldn't prepare.

They kept this up, trading back and forth, for about two minutes, giving him the minimum needed time between blasts, as Draco explained.

"We wouldn't want you to lose your mind just yet." When they finally stopped Harry glanced up at Tonks, his eyes pleading for help. Her eyes were cloudy but he could see growing resistance deep within. Lucius noticed it too.

"Well it looks like its time to go to stage two." Using his own wand Draco placed Harry in a full body bind and positioned him so he could see what Lucius was doing. He had bound Tonks' arms behind her back and with the help of several sticking charms and conjured ropes he was hanging her by her arms from the ceiling and keeping her legs from kicking him. Tonks had come out of the imperious effects now and was cursing like a sailor.

"The rooms been silenced, no one will hear you."

"But you can scream anyway, I kinda enjoy that. _Crucio_!" Draco finished as he hit her with the pain curse. She held out for a few seconds before screaming.

I don't like the leering smile those two have, oh god no.

Lucius stepped forward and ripped her robes and the blouse she wore beneath open. Tonks spit on him but earned a hard backhanded slap for her troubles. Over the next hour Harry alternated between screaming and begging for them to stop. Aunt Petunia came to, and joined Harry but she was quickly stunned again.

When the father and son duo were satisfied with her they used a sticking charm to attach her to the ceiling above the frozen Harry. She was crying and whimpering now, Harry had never seen her so broken in his life, he just wished they'd end it and kill him. Anything to help the naked Auror that hung above him.

"She wasn't too bad for a mudblood whore. Don't worry you didn't miss much Potter." Harry cursed his mother and got a kick to the groin for it. Once again Draco pulled out Harry's wand and cast a cutting curse at Tonks, it grazed her belly and while the cut wasn't deep she started to bleed, on Harry. Draco made several more until the young Auror had stopped screaming and crying her every ounce of remaining strength on keeping herself breathing. Lucius spent the time by hitting Harry with minor, but still excruciating pain curses. Suddenly they cut the holding charms on each of them. Harry could barley move and he had no time to react before Tonks' broken body fell on him.

"Please don't die, please Nymp."

"Harry… do me a favor." 'cough'

"Anything, just hang in there." She grabbed his hand and squeezed.

"Kill them for me." Then her hand went limp and she stopped breathing.

"So pathetic." Draco fired a killing curse at Aunt Petunia, who had been up and screaming for several minutes now. Then the two death eaters spread the fallen family Duresly out on the floor and laid Harry's wand down beside him. Harry grabbed it and tried to put every bit of hate into his next spell.

"AVAD…" He never got that far as Lucius kicked him in the head and everything went dark.

END FLASHBACK 

Neri's face showed a mix of disgust and pitty as she listened to his tale.

"So is that why you're here?" At this Harry began to laugh. It was a cold and disquieting laugh.

"Hardly, if a lifetime here was the cost of killing those two bastards I'd gladly forsake the rest of the world for revenge. No the story isn't over, if you though it was possible it gets worse. Let me finish before I lose the will."

"Okay." She placed her hand on his shoulder. Her hand may have looked fleshy but it felt bony and cold, still Harry took comfort in the fact someone would listen to him even if she was the avatar of the foulest creatures that he'd even encountered.

FLASHBACK 

When I awoke it was morning, there where aurors and Order members everywhere. As soon as I started to move someone stunned me. The next time I awoke I was in a cell at the ministry. Besides the pain curses, and a few bruises I was in decent shape. Didn't matter they didn't give me the treatment for the after effects anyway. Those aurors, they questioned me for hours. I told them everything and then everything again under Veritaserum. They wrote it down and then left, and I was held in the dark for several days unaware of what was going on. They fed me but no one would tell me what was being done, whether or not they caught the Mafloys. Then one day the removed me, they stunned and awakened me down on the bottom levels of the ministry. They took me in to my trail. My trail! For the murder of my family and Tonks' rape and murder. How could anyone think I'd done such horrible things? When I tried to protest they placed a silencing charm on me and I was forced to watch the trial. No need to panic right, they would let me speak in my defense right?

At first the prosecutions case was simple, I was at the scene, my wand had been used to kill everyone there and I was holding my wand when they found me. I could deal with that, however unfair it was any trial grade attorney could get me off. Even a muggle attorney could get me off with the physical evidence alone. I saw that I did have someone to argue on my behalf since they wouldn't let me speak. But that person did nothing. The prosecution finished with the evidence I thought it was over that my defense would help me, admit the transcripts of my lengthy interrogation. Or question me under Veritaserum. But I was wrong the prosecution had more evidence. Evidence that was against my state of mind, basically they had found some people to perform a character assignation. I didn't know who they'd found but it was worse than I could have ever thought. They had my friends; my best friends testify that I was horrible, evil even.

Ron, my supposed best friend, told the world that I was an attention-seeking prat. That I broke rules just to break them. That I hated my aunt and uncle, that part was true but I would never wish them death. Maybe a broken arm or something but not death. Hermione, my other ex-best friend, told them that I was rash and impulsive, I guess that's true but why? Then she told them that I was practicing dark arts and the list just went on. Over the past year the Daily Prophet had dragged my name through the mud, and the people who'd defended me then now confirmed every-false rumor. Most of my so called and friends and most of the Weasley family testified against me. By the end of that farce they called a trial the trip we took to the ministry, that got my godfather killed, became a 'mad quest by a dark wizard in training' they even accused me of using the imperious curse on them to force them to come with me. They said they had no idea why they would have done such a foolish thing. What was worse Draco even testified against me, how could that murdering bastard be accusing me of his crimes. I screamed at the top of my lungs but no one could hear me. Fudge, the minister of magic, was as giddy as a schoolgirl. He was smiling the entire time, along with the rest of his ministry staff. Headmaster Dumbledore spoke against me, he said that he didn't know where he'd gone wrong. Wrong! He went wrong when he refused to allow me to speak! After an incredibly short recess the wizenmagot found me guilty on all counts. Their sympathy towards a minor was that I be imprisoned for seven hundred years. When I was given the chance to say something after my sentencing I was immediately silenced when I tried to plead with them to look at what happened at my interrogation. They took me down to the holding cells again and let my friends approach me. I was still silenced and could say nothing, when I got close to the bars they spat on me. Even though the wizenmagot had ceremonially broken my wand, Ron informed me he'd switched the wand with a fake and held my wand out before me. He'd rescued it so he could break it himself. My best friend, if he was capable of such malice, I-I never knew. Hemione was no better; she'd found the album of my parents. Sirius had given it to me; it was all I had of them. She burnt it in front of me, they told me it severed me right and anything I got was a thousand times better than what I dissevered. Then one of the guards gave me a bundle, someone had left for me. I-it was… H-hedwig. My owl, my first friend, she would have believed me no matter what. Someone had strangled her. What did she do to anyone; she was the best friend a person could have. I got no more visitors, the next thing I knew I was being chained up and portkeyed to the fortress. I've been in this cell ever since.

END FLASHBACK 

At this point Harry eyes where filled with tears, every single horrible thing that had happened since that faithful night in the department of mysteries crashed back down upon him. His mental shields where holding, this was completely his doing.

'Shss, Shss' "It's not okay but it will get better." Harry collapsed into Neri's arms. It was like holding the reaper himself, but she comforted him all the less. When the guard came by latter on she made herself invisible and let Harry, who had fallen asleep on her shoulder, rest.

_This one has gone through so much; I should at least listen to him, even if there is nothing I can do._

_Or can I?_


	3. Transformation

Chapter 2

Transformation 

Harry slowly forced himself awake; it was a most disconcerting feeling being held by a dementor. He felt cold all over but still would rather stay in her arms than on the mattress that he had.

"Morning." Harry looked up; he'd fallen asleep on Neri's shoulder. He quickly disentangled himself from the creature. Forgetting that the vision of beauty was just that a vision, he blushed.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about me, your breakfasts getting cold." She pointed to the tray that sat in the corner by the bars.

"They didn't see you, did they?"

"No. Illusion is something that my kind specializes in." Harry thought about contradicting her but stopped himself. He really didn't know anything about dementors. Harry picked up his meal.

She had said this is breakfast, can't tell as they serve the same thing ever meal.

"Do you want anything?"

Stupid don't think of her as a human.

"No, I can go without energy for quite a while. Actually I was feeding all the time we were here. I can assure you that your neighbors got no sleep last night." Harry laughed.

"I–I wanted to say thank you. For last night and…"

"Say no more of it, I'm happy that I have someone to talk to."

She stayed for another hour, they talked. Harry didn't remember everything they talked about, save some of her past. She was always alone out in the world, like him to an extent. Her power over the collective stopped her from entering the collective and simply living. She described it as a heaven of sorts but she could only look in and wish to be apart of it. So it became a routine, the highlight of his week was when Neri visited. Slowly but surely Harry shared his entire life with her and she with him. If anything she was the reminder of the elfish girl who had lost her soul to a dementor over five thousand years ago. That soul was the centerpiece of Neri's soul. She was far kinder and understanding than any dark creature had any business being. She described dementors as upper level sentient beings, creatures that had no qualms over their nature and embraced their abilities, strengths and weakness, rather than attempting to confirm to fleeting and changing ideas of morality. She compared them to any predator; they didn't feel bad about killing their food to survive. Even if they felt something for their prey they still feed and drained souls to prosper themselves. In her words lesser sentients, like humans, where the only creatures that fought against their very nature and that was the cause of all the suffering in the world. Harry disagreed but left it at that; after all she'd had several millennia to create this argument. Nothing he'd seen in fifteen, almost sixteen years could change that.

Humans didn't know anything about dementors because they never asked. Harry apparently was the first in a long time to even see her as stronger than the average dementor. Even Voldemort, who they took orders from, didn't know about her. He gave his orders through a stronger than normal dementor that he merely called the voice. When Harry had asked why she took orders from him her answer was simple. He offered my people more feeding grounds and souls than the ministry did and she looked after her people first and foremost.

They continued to meet in secret, three or four times a week, for almost a month before Neri asked him a question that she'd been thinking about since the night he'd shared his tale of betrayal.

"Harry." They had run out of things to say and were just enjoying each other's presence.

"Yes." She paused.

"What do you plan to do?"

"What do you mean, I'm trapped in here forever."

"If you got out what would you do?"

_What was she getting at?_

"I don't know. I would stop Voldemort, I'm supposed to be the only one who can." He'd mentioned the prophecy to her but hadn't told it word for word. "I would fulfill Tonks' last wish and kill the Mafloys, but then I don't know. Why, are planning on letting me out?" She hesitated.

"Something like that."

"What?"

"Harry do you trust me?" Could he trust a creature who no matter how sweet she was, had a priority to protect her hive. But then again without her he would never get out.

"Yes."

"What if I could offer you a way out? It's not a sure thing but it's a chance."

"What would I have to do?"

"Kiss me."

That was how demontors stole souls wasn't it, true she was cute but it was only an illusion. Actually touching her wasn't the best experience in the world.

"What would happen if something went wrong?"

"You could lose your soul."

Yeah like I thought, but if I don't what will I have. She might leave and never come back then I'd be alone again. I've never told anyone but what I fear the most is being alone with myself, its why I feared dementors. They sent me back into the places I'd rather forget.

"Neri." He took her hands. They where as cold and hard as the first time they'd touched. "I realize that I have nothing to lose, and that I've trusted you with parts of my life that I've shared with no one else. If you think this is what we should do I'll trust you."

Harry leaned forward and kissed her, he felt nothing. Probably because she didn't really have lips and he stopped where her illusionary lips where. Then he felt a cold, far colder than anything he'd ever felt. He felt as if he was floating and losing sensation at the same time. Then he was spiraling into darkness.

First there was darkness and then he awoke. The place he was in wasn't his cell but before he dealt with what was around him he studied himself. He could rotate in every direction, but he couldn't see himself. He waved his arms, but while he knew he waved them he couldn't see himself or feel the air passing by his arms. Speaking of which he couldn't feel air at all, he didn't appear to be breathing but was okay. He took a step forward, well he could move even if he couldn't see the ground around him or feel it. The best way to describe the place he was in was a galaxy. It looked like the star charts he saw once at a science museum. Dudley had gone there for his seventh birthday and Harry had been forced to come along. What a horrible day that was. Anyway, it remained him of a Nebula, _that was what they called it_. The place looked like several fog machines had been set up to spew a light pastel fog of many different colors. Countless bright lights doted the place; some were so close together that it was hard to see how many there were. The strangest thing was some of the stars seamed to be made up of many smaller stars clustered around a darker star that pulsated with a strangely dark light. A dark light that he'd seen before. It was the same light that Neri gave off when she created that illusion of herself.

These dark stars are dementors. Which meant that this was the collective Neri had spoken of.

One of the dementors was coming towards him, he moved to meet it and marveled at the creature's complexity. There where so many bright lights orbiting around it. This one was much more complex than the others.

"Neri." The dementor stopped and began to glow, then in a flash the familiar shape of the elfish woman stood before him. He looked down he had his body back as well.

"These are only illusions the souls you see is the way we look in the collective."

"There so many souls here, why?"

"They provide the collective power, and in return they are at peace."

"How can something trapped here for all eternity be at peace?"

"A dementor feeds on the darkest thoughts of a person, not the happiest ones. When confronted with happy thoughts, either as a patroness or otherwise, we drain off those thoughts. They are stored here." She gestured to the mist that surrounded everything.

"Every soul here is surrounded in the happiness of untold billons. They either form groups." She indicated on of the large glowing spheres. "Or stay by themselves, reliving these memories or creating their own. I said that the collective was a heaven of sorts; they have everything they could ever want."

"So why am I here?"

"I'm offering you a chance to join us, to receive our power."

"First off, am I dead? And secondly don't I have to die to become a dementor?"

"Well to answer the first question, your soul is currently out of your body, it will live without you for a while then die. As time travels much slower in here we have plenty of time before your body expires on its own. For the second question, I am not offering you the chance to become one of us, but for a chance to share our power."

"What do I have to do?"

"Well first off you have to drop your mental shields, no harm will come to you, but you may have trouble paying attention."

_What did that mean?_

Harry concentrated on lowering the barriers that he'd raised over the past two months, it was hard. He'd gotten used to leaving them up even when he was sleeping and to suddenly drop them all. Several minutes passed while he was lost in concentration.

"There." Harry gasped as emotions just slammed into him from allover, much like a dementors aura, except he felt warm and at peace. He was swimming in a sea of love and happiness. It wasn't memories but just the overwhelming feeling and emotion.

"HARRY."

"W-what?"

"That was the third time I called your name, I warned you the feeling can be overwhelming."

"Yeah." He smiled sheepishly, no that he knew what it was it wasn't so intoxicating but for someone who'd had so little love in much of his life just wanting to stay here was all he could think off. He was interrupted from his musings by Neri putting her hands on his shoulders. Her she wasn't cold or hard, her hands were soft and warm.

"Are you even listing?"

"Sorry no." She gave an exasperated sigh.

"Now you know why I called this place what I did. As I was saying you have three choices. One stay here and float forever, your body will die if you do that. Choice two is to leave and go back to your body. If you do that you can never return. Choice three is to accept the power I would give you, you would be able to see me here but this place would never again affect you the same as it just did."

"Not much of a choice, how do I get this power?" She smiled and stepped back. Pointing her hands at him she closed her eyes and once again that darkest light began to surround her. Something pulled out of his chest; he immediately missed it even if he had no idea what it was. She held up a smoke ball, it looked like a cage of some sort, but he could not see inside.

"This is the representation of your animagus form. I propose that we turn this into a dementor. This would grant you our powers, our abilities and increases your normal abilities several fold."

"Okay what do I do?"

"You just had to agree, I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm thinking nine souls to augment your own."

"Wait, wouldn't that make them leave this place?"

"Every dementor here that you see roaming is not here, but their souls are. Once you join the collective you will always be here. Your soul will be the exception as it will never truly join."

"How will we pick out the souls?"

"I've already done that." She waved her hand and nine stars moved from where they sat and floated to her side, each was the size of a golden snitch.

"Each of these are the souls of powerful wizards and witches. I chose each one because they have knowledge that would be useful to you."

"I can absorb knowledge this way?"

"Yes, and after we are done you can browse the collective like a library and pull the knowledge from as many souls as you want." She pointed to one of the nine she'd gathered.

"This is the soul of one Xavier Slytherin. The grandson of Salazar Slytherin, like his grandfather he spoke parseltounge, and like his grandfather he learned hundreds of spells that need to be spoken in parseltounge."

"That makes sense, I guess, shall we get started?" She positioned his hands around the hazy cage of his animagus form and then did the same with her hands. She began to chant. Harry didn't recognize the language but focused on her words letting his power ebb and flow as she commanded. The nine souls began to spiral around the cage, pulling tighter together and moving faster with each rotation. When they got close they pulled into tight and fast moving orbits. The hazy cage was now glowing with the same darkened light of a dementor. The light grew brighter and Neri's voice grew louder and louder. He could feel weak but he focused all of his power into his hands to the animagus part of himself. Then the light returned to a normal slow pulse and he let his arms sag in relief. That part was done. She smiled and nodded, then she pushed the orb and he could fell it melting into him. He shouldn't have relaxed so early. The dementor part of him hurt as it melded into him. Okay hurt was an understatement, he could feel a ball of solid ice trying to drill its way through his stomach, every part of him hurt, far worse than the cruciatus curse did. As each one of the souls bonded to his magical core, he felt as though the pressure would tear him apart. Foreign memories flooded into his brain, he felt like an army of midgets where in his head with sledgehammers. And this was only the knowledge; the souls he was bonding with weren't even giving him their experiences.

When it was over he still hurt. He felt the warmth of the place grow dark and cold. The collective faded out, now he could her his heart beat and feel the wind. He was back in his cell, next to Neri. It seamed that only a moment had passed. His everything hurt, and he was tired. It was worse than anything he'd felt. Neri laid him down and raised her hood over her face. As she did that he noticed the illusion shimmer and fade.

"Rest now. I have to go and recharge. I will see you soon." She rose and disappeared, Harry was too tired to notice.

At first it was faint, buzzing he thought. Then it grew louder to the point that it would deafen him, light appeared and it grew as well. He fought against it, fought threw it and then, he was awake. Opening his eyes slowly Harry looked up. He was not in his cell; the cell didn't have a large florescent light in the ceiling. No magical place he knew of had a large muggle light in it. He stayed still flexing his muscles and trying to think about why he'd be where he was. Wherever that was. After Neri had given him this new power he had passed out. No lots of pain then he'd passed out. Speaking of pain his muscles protested even these small movements; there was still a pain in his arm. He lifted his head to see, there was a needle sticking out of his arm. It ran up an IV tube to, a plastic bag of a nutrient potion of some sort. Harry sat up and carefully pulled the needle from his arm, he was in a sterile medical facility, besides the IV and the light the place looked like it was a dungeon in the prison. This must be the medical office, but why was he here? He shifted his weight and hoped off the bed, bad idea. His protesting legs collapsed beneath him. Grunting he pulled himself up and looked around the room. His noise prompted a familiar cold presence forward. A dementor looked in past the privacy curtain that surrounded his bed. When it saw he was awake it silently drifted out. Pulling the curtain away, Harry looked around the room. He was in a modestly appointed healers room. There was no one else around and everything was locked inside of glass cabinets, but that didn't catch his attention. Harry hobbled over to a window and looked outside, he hadn't seen the sun in so long. It was midmorning, the always-overcast sky around Azkaban never looked so inviting. He simply revealed in the beauty for a while before noticing that the dementor had returned and was floating next to him. He had been so lost in the sight of clouds that he hadn't noticed it creeping up on him. No what he really didn't notice was the cold or the memories. His mental shields were still not in place yet her felt nothing. The dementor didn't affect him.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up." Harry spun around. A healer dressed in the customary green robes of his profession stood on the far wall. Harry noticed that the man was doing everything possible to avoid him, no probably the dementor. Could they really see him as a threat?

"H-how did I get here?" Harry croaked out.

"You went into a comatose state, you weren't eating so they moved you here."

"How long?"

"Almost three weeks. Now that your awake the guards are on their way to escort you back to your cell."

"K." Harry turned around and continued to stare out the window. Sure enough the guards came and demanded he turn around with his hands over his head. It took them almost ten minutes to realize that he was too weak to walk without using his hands to hold himself up. Eventually they gave in and carried him back to his cell. The two that held him up dumped him unceremoniously on the floor, but the healer left him some food that was better than the standard fare. Thanking the healer Harry pulled himself into bed and struggled to eat. He didn't feel tired but his muscles didn't want to move, they must have been asleep for too long. He spent the time doing exercises to strengthen his body, when ever a dementor came through he waved to them. Most ignored him but he though that one or two nodded. Before going back to sleep he remembered to raise his occulmancy shields, no point in getting blindsided by snake face's visions and nightmares. Not when he felt far to good for a prisoner in the supposed hell on earth.

Neri didn't return that night or the next. He spent his time rebuilding his body and sorting through all the things he now knew. Most of it was magic related and he couldn't test it in the cells with the wonderful anti-magic wards.

Three days after he awoke a dementor appeared in his cell while he was doing pushups. Harry quickly stood and found the shirt he had taken off.

"Don't you knock?" She laughed, the strange feeling that he'd felt before when she laughed had faded. Even though the neighbors shrieked at the sound of her voice, good thing those who could overhear us are completely insane.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better." As usual Neri sat down, she didn't remove her hood this time. Harry continued to stretch.

"So what's next?"

"Next, you need to learn how to transform. There is nothing to bar your way anymore, you just need to find that part of you, we can do that now if you'd like."

"Sure." Harry sat down beside her.

"Close your eyes, you want to shut out everything but sound of my voice." Harry did as instructed, while his mental shields came more from necessity than training, Snape's lessons on mind clearing worked here.

"You remember what the aminmagus core felt like when it re-entered you. Concentrate on that." How could he forget the pain was almost unbearable, concentrating he found a spot of darkness that didn't belong, that felt cold.

"Once you find that pull it up towards you. This may be difficult; you have to feel it coming towards you. It should pulse, as it gets closer and when it's pulsing rapidly flood it with your energy."

The numbing coldness grew closer to him but it didn't want to go all the way. He paused and the pain came, but it was brief and when it subsided he felt his whole body grow cold and then a light warmth replaced it and seamed to energize him.

"Harry you did it, open your eyes."

"I don't feel much different." He looked himself over; his body looked the same too.

"You can feel it though the spreading warmth and power."

"Yeah, but that's it, that what being a dementor feels like. I expected…"

"What." She snapped. "You expected to feel dark and evil."

"No that's not what I meant. Sorry for even sounding like that. I just thought that I'd be able to tell."

"You will. Sorry for snapping. I can sense your aura; you should be able to sense mine. You're actually a lot stronger than I expected obviously your soul is more powerful than I gave you credit for."

"So can you tell me just what I feel?"

"Well the feeling of warmth is all the power you're sapping from the surrounding area."

"Okay. W-well…"

"What you were expecting wings or something?"

"Well no but that would have been cool." She sighed.

"Harry dementors are magical beings, we don't place any value on the physical. Your entire magical profile has shifted, even while in human form Harry James Potter ceased to exist. The reason dementors look so old and decrepit is because we don't eat and the body shrivels and dies. This affects you as well, you don't need to eat when you're transformed but that doesn't mean your body can go without food. You have to remain human and eat or else your body will fall apart on you."

"Alright got it, can I learn all the neat abilities now?"

"You need to ask nicer."

"Oh great master can you teach me your ways." She laughed again.

"Yeah, lets get started shall we."

Over the next couple of months his training progressed. He spent the mornings working out physically, with no need for his food to provide him energy he was able to use every thing he got as building blocks. Not that it was much but he began to gain some muscle. He spent the afternoons practicing the abilities he'd learned and his new and improved magic, Neri had turned off the nullifying ward completely. After the last meal of the day he teleported down to the dementor's common, a place beneath the fortress where humans didn't dare go. There he learned new things for the rest of the night. He spent the next day in his cell meditating. While this allowed his body to rest his mind was linked to the collective where he learned even more theory and history. He didn't need to actually sleep more than once a week. In the four months since he mastered his transformation he learned more than most people do in a lifetime, the knowledge that 5000 years of existence had was amazing.

As a dementor, he mastered both the passive aura and the active aura. His passive aura was strong enough to send most people into shock and when he really tried, well the results were just nasty. He tested his powers out against death eaters in the prison. He could fly, or hover depending on the situation. His unique advantage over the others was a decently powerful physical body to work with his mental powers. He conjured a sparing dummy and then hovered around it while fighting. The freedom of movement made him deadly. He could teleport to anyplace he had previously been or could see. This wasn't as powerful as apperation as it had a maximum range just over a quarter mile, but the fact that no wards could stop it made it madly useful. He could actually see magic, the auras and the intricacies of wards and even cast spells. That type of knowledge was sure to come in handy latter. He could also create almost foolproof illusions and mask his voice to sound like a dementor. Neri couldn't make her voice sound more mortal because she had no vocal cords. The only dementor power he didn't try out was soul eating, mainly because he didn't have anyone handy to test it on. By the time February rolled around Harry left his cell entirely. With Neri's help, well she did almost all the work, they conjured a construct of him that remained in his cell. It was inhabited by a pair of souls that allowed it to do the only the most basic functions. Good thing it wasn't designed for much. Take the food that was given him and place it in the toilet, then go back to the bed and lay there. As none of the guards talked to the prisoners, at least not these, the dementors liked that cellblock too much, no one ever noticed. The bed he moved to was just as old and ratty but a little conjuring and transfiguration fixed that. He didn't have a wand but was able to perform most magic wandlessly now. So things continued with Harry living deep below the fortress taking food from the house elves in the kitchen, and basically living among the dementors. Which meant living with Neri as none of the others did anything but feed outside of the collective.


	4. Escape

A/N First of all to clear up any questions concerning his transformation, he might have had a phoenix or a dragon or a squirrel as his animagus form. Well will never know that's gone now. While transformed he has all the powers of a dementor in addition to his normal magic. He also has all the weakness, Patroni ect, there will be more. After all invincibility takes away from the plotline. Enjoy and review. A/N

Chapter 3

Escape

Harry smiled and breathed in the air, it smelled of jasmine and some other plant he couldn't place. He was sitting on the bank of a river; small gardens could be seen in the distance. A bridge slightly down steam was filled with tourists but this area was clear of everyone. Everyone except Neri, she sat next to him looking out over the water. It was a shame they couldn't do this in real life, he thought. They were currently visiting one of the countless memories that the collective had. While within a memory is was much like a pensive, except you could change any parameters and as long as you stayed within sight of the person who the memory came from you could do whatever. There were other souls visiting this park but none of them even saw the couple, side affect of having a mind independent of the collective.

Neri described it as a fishbowl. Harry was like a diver, immersed but still foreign. Neri was standing outside looking in. He really couldn't begin to comprehend the loneliness of being able to see all of this yet never being able to do anything with anyone.

While they had known each other for close to eleven months real-time and a little over two years in the collective, this was their second official date. Maybe it was because they came from such different places, or it might be because of the fact she was a skeleton in real life. Not that he had any problems with her in this world, except that it was a fake. He turned his head; Neri looked the same as when they'd first met. Her white blonde, almost silvery, hair spilled down over her shoulders and pooled at the ground. She was looking across the river now. Neri was wearing a white and yellow sundress that loosely clung to her body. Her bust wasn't exactly what you would call large, probably only a B-cup. Still her thin and graceful body was certainly beautiful in his mind.

Sensing his eyes she turned and smiled. Before Harry would have blushed having been caught looking but know he just returned her smile.

"What's your mind?"

"Nothing."

"I know that look, it's not your ogling look." Now Harry did blush.

"I'm just wondering about what will happen."

"With the rest of the world."

"Yeah, I can't stay in here forever. No matter how many people want me to."

"Don't scowl, it doesn't suit you."

"Sorry. I just don't know if it's worth it. Why should I care about what happens to a world that cannot save itself and crucifies its savior?" They had started taking old copies of the Daily Prophet from the warden about two months ago. The paper had somehow managed to blame things that went bad now on Harry.

"If you listen to them then how will you kill him?"

"Kill who?"

"You promised someone that a certain bastard would pay didn't you."

"Yeah." The fact that he'd almost forgotten his promise to Tonks hurt.

"And you said it your self that you are the only one that can kill Voldemort."

"Neri, why do you care if he dies or not?"

"When you live as long as me you understand thing about people. Dark lords in general promise my kind the same thing. They promise us the souls of their enemies. But if we listen and help the dark lord go on a genocidal rampage in the end you end up with far to many demetors and no more enemies to feed off. Did you know that there used to be a large civilization on Antarctica?"

"No. Let me guess civil war between a dark lord and dementors?"

"Yeah. But that's just anyone in general who seeks to use us against their enemies. They don't think ahead so my support has always been lukewarm. Voldemort is a certifiably lunatic who has no problems wiping out everyone to achieve his means."

"How do you know?"

"Its just his type. If say he wanted to know everything, he would simply destroy everything else. If I am the only one alive then I know the most, therefore I know everything." Harry laughed at the fractured logic.

"So I should stop him."

"Defiantly, he's a danger to our kind as well. We may be tough to kill but we're not invincible." Growing somber now Harry sighed.

"I just don't know how I can face all those people again."

"Do you need to?"

"Yes, even with all that you taught me I'm not powerful enough to take down an army. I will need help, and as someone said once I have a huge hero complex."

"Your saving people thing?"

"Yeah. It's not right to let someone else die if I can stop it."

"So when will you go?"

"I don't know, I think that I should attempt to return to Hogwarts, that school has many problems and I think that I can do the most good there."

"Don't get ahead of your self you have to clear your name first."

"I don't think that will be too hard if I avoid auror custody."

"Well you aren't leaving right now so I think you can wait a little right?"

"Yeah…" He stopped as Neri pulled him into a kiss. Even if it was a virtual realty, she felt so real. Harry responded and when they broke for air the just curled up together and watched the sunset.

Harry drifted down the prison hallways. He had taken to masquerading as a dementor on patrol during this time of day. It was easy enough, after transfiguring his prisoner uniform into one of the tattered black robes that the dementors wore he merely transformed and floated off. A concealment charm protected his face, not that any guard dared get close enough to check beneath his hood. He had learned to control his aura to the point that no one noticed the difference between him and the normal dementors. His favorite spot to run was his old cellblock. Not only could he check in on 'himself,' who looked more than half dead, but he got to visit the death eaters who got captured at the Department of mysteries and didn't buy their way out, like Mafloy. Rookwood was his favorite to torment; he would just stop at his cell and turn up the dementor aura to full blast. He made sure not to stay to long, no need for him to go crazy before Harry was satisfied he'd paid for hurting Hermione. Not that he really cared what happened to her now but then she was his friend.

What he was really doing was trying to cope with the boredom. He'd pulled just about everything that might be useful from the collective. He still practiced for eighteen hours a day what he already learned. He was bored because he hadn't seen Neri for almost a week now. She had locked herself in her room and when he'd seen her inside he collective she'd been distracted and left quickly. He had no idea why she was avoiding him. Had it been something he'd said, or did? He didn't remember upsetting her and he couldn't think of anything. So he kept him self busy by tormenting the prisoners.

When his shift was complete he went back to the dementor's quarters. What it really was were about thirty acres of underground catacombs. The dementors inhabited a small area south of the prison. There were over two hundred down here. The ministry and Voldemort didn't realize that there were more than 100 in all of Britain. The only rooms down here were his and Neri's as none of the dementors sleep, they only went into trances at times. As they cared not at all for physical appearance rooms weren't really a necessity. Neri didn't sleep either and she used her room to store things. Well she normally did, now he had no idea what she used her room for. Harry stood in the center of the room and began to go through a martial arts form he had pulled from the memories of one of the souls. The form was designed to fight opponents carrying guns or knives while unarmed. Harry figured it would work well against opponents carrying wands, especially since while flying he could close the average twenty-foot duel range in three seconds. Having no watch he didn't bother to keep track of time and had no idea how long it was before a dementor appeared before him. He knew some watched him, an indicator they were smarted than Neri said, but this was the first time one had interrupted him. Transforming back into his human form he walked up to the dementor.

"Yeah?" It looked at him and then turned around, floating off. Harry gave chase, not that he needed to hurry it was leading to his room; he did know where that was. He was mistaken when it stopped outside of Neri's room.

"So she's finally ready to talk to me." The dementor opened the door.

"What you're not going to wish me luck." The dementor ignored him and closed the door after he entered. Neri was standing in the back of the room with her back to him. She was still wearing her robe, hood up, and looking into a full-length mirror.

Now I've been in here before and this isn't what it looked like.

The room, which was previously gray stone, was painted a dull forest green. A huge four-posted bed sat on the far wall; Neri was standing by a mirror next to that. Shelves had been set up to hold all the things that Neri had collected during her lifetime.

_Was this all in here before or did she transfigure it? _

_Can she even cast spells?_

_Well obviously, strange I've never seen her do that._

"How are you Harry?"

"Fine, u-uh am I in trouble?" She laughed. It was the soft laugh that he'd come to know in the collective, not the raspy dry leaves sound that he voice was normally.

_What's going on?_

"Why would you be in trouble? Have you done something that I wouldn't like?"

"N-no but, I haven't seen you in a week and…"

"Do you know what day it is?"

"July 30th." What's that got to do with…"

"You have no idea what time it is do you?"

"No, I guess I need a watch."

"Its past mid-night Harry. Happy birthday." Harry suddenly felt very uncomfortable, he didn't even know when or if she had a birthday.

"I know that humans put great stock in birthdays." She continued. "So I've been busy getting ready." Now he really felt bad.

"I don't put to much stock in birthdays, I never had one until I was eleven. I didn't even ask you about your birthday. Sorry…"

"Don't you worry about that right now. I have good news and bad news, which would you like to hear first?"

"The bad news I guess."

"Voldemort is planning or rescuing his captured death eaters from Azkaban next week. You have to leave tomorrow."

"Oh."

"As he's instructed what he believes to be the head of the dementors to attack the guards I can't disobey him without letting him catch on. You need to be gone early enough so that it doesn't look like you got wind and escaped at the last minute. It's possible that he will call off his attack then I won't need to relocate."

"I can understand. Is that all the bad news?"

"Yes."

"What's the good news?"

"Presents. See that box wrapped in gold paper?" It was sitting on a shelf close to where he had come in.

"Yeah."

"Well open it, it's for you." Harry carefully removed the wrapping from the box and opened it. He was so used to not getting anything, the events of last year had completely erased the last five years of presents from his 'friends.' Inside he found a long tube, ivory in color and thinner at one end.

"What is it?" She laughed again.

"What kind of wizard can't recognize a wand? You mentioned that yours was broken. So I made you a new one. Try it out." Harry gingery picked up the wand; it was longer than his original. As he waved it silver and blue sparks shot out of the end of the tip.

"How?" Harry had no idea how she had built a wand without him knowing and it worked perfectly.

"It's fourteen inches long, the body is a dementor's bone, Tibia I believe. The core is a liquid mix of Phoenix tears, Basilisk venom, and Dragon blood."

"But how did you know that it would work for me."

"You don't think I know you enough to see what magical elements you would bond with?"

"I guess so." Harry swished the wand back and forth. It cut through the air leaving a trail of sparks. The wand seemed to fit in his hand, even more so than his old holly wand did.

"Wow, this is amazing. Thank you."

"Oh we're not done yet." She turned towards him and started forward. Letting her hood fall down as she walked towards him. He could smell something, as she got closer.

It wasn't the stale smell he associated with her, perfume perhaps.

Oh no, I know what she's thinking. I've seen that smile before, it's not like I don't like her or care for her but skeletons really aren't my thing. Actually I'd have to rank guys higher on my list than skeletons. (Mentally shudders at the thought.)

"Neri? Do it's not that I'm not flattered or anything but…" A finger touching his lips silenced him. He gasped at the touch. She didn't feel cold or bony like usually. She felt alive and she was trembling.

"You stop right there with that line of thought. You want to know what I've been doing all week right?"

"Yeah b…"

"I'll show you." She turned around. The robe dropped off her shoulders and landed in a puddle around her feet. As he expected she had nothing on beneath. She pulled his hand and motioned him to follow her.

Her hands are soft and fleshy, yet firm and warm. They feel so real, but how, and Merlin what a great ass.

"If we can conjure up a replica of you that would stand up to a medical inspection in twenty minutes, I think I could recreate my body in a weeks time."

"So your real. Not an illusion?"

"I almost feel hurt, but the soul who once lived here was quite vain and I understand. I know you have to leave here tomorrow and I wanted to spend just one night with you before then. Taking on a mortal form is a weakness, but for you it's one I'm willing to take." She stopped at the foot of the bed and undid the catch holding his robe together. Harry was still wearing the prison pants beneath. She kissed him. Harry just drank in her intoxicating scent of several seconds before abandoning all pretense of control and pushing her on top of the bed and jumping in

Ringing. Something was ringing. He knew that sound, it was an alarm clock. Harry struggled to alertness. He was lying in a bed. Warm sheets surrounded him, an even warmer figure was pressed up against him. Neri's beautiful body was pressed against him. Just thinking about her, about last night started a tingling in his loins. He, like all horny adolescents, had dreamed about women in every possible position he could think of. But, Merlin he was glad the real thing was so much better than any fantasy. The rhythmic rising and falling of her chest was almost hypnotizing, she snorted. She was starting to wake up, shit the alarm. Harry starched out his hand in the direction of the alarm, it was almost four feet away. Damn it, Harry flexed and in his anger sent the alarm clock flying across the room where it hit the wall and fell silent. But not before making an awful racket.

"What was that?" Now she was awake.

"Nothing, go back to sleep love." She turned over and kissed him.

"That's the first time you called me that."

"It's true." Harry sat up, so much for going back to sleep. She glanced across the room and frowned.

"You didn't have to break it."

"I didn't want to get up, sorry."

"You're forgiven just fix will you." Harry stood and with a flick of his new wand repaired the clock.

"I set it at breakfast time in the prison, you should go as soon as possible." Harry sighed; he really didn't want to leave. He pulled on his clothing and transfigured the pants to look less prison like and mended the tattered robe that marked him as a dementor.

"No breakfast before I go?"

"Nothing here's worth eating anyway."

"Touché." She pulled on her robe and the two rose to their expected height, then they both teleported to Harry's cell. The construct had just finished disposing of Harry's breakfast. It didn't need food, as it was magical in nature.

"How was being me?" It didn't answer; instead it walked back to its cot and laid down.

"Not the talkative sort are you?" With a gesture Neri vanished the look-alike and returned the souls to the collective.

"Anything you need to remember this place by?"

"I'd like to blow this whole cell up but that would reveal too much." She giggled, and Harry laughed.

"Enough we have a schedule to keep."

"Yeah I know." Any onlooker would have seen a pair of dementors merging into a hazy smoke and then fading out. Leaving the cell of one Harry Potter empty. They reappeared almost instantaneously under a jutting rock down by the shore. At high tide this would be under water.

"Promise to get in touch with me tonight and tell me what happened."

"I'll enter the collective as soon as I can." She kissed him again.

"Goodbye."

"Wait before you go. I never got to thank you for last night and ask when your birthday is?"

"Well as per last night, no thanks is required you preformed spectacularly." Harry blushed scarlet beneath his hood. "As far as my birthday, the elf this body was born as isn't really me and I never kept track of the day I came into existence. So I was thinking that my birthday could be the day when my body started to live again. So we could have the same birthday."

"That works for me. Then I guess I owe you a Happy birthday as well." She smirked, and kissed him again.

"Get going before I get all teary." Harry nodded and flew off, the words 'I love you' echoing across the water.

If anyone was actually watching this section of the island they would have seen a black shape speeding out towards the north. Harry stayed within feet of the water for the first hundred meters before rising up enough to avoid the spray. He stopped and hovered when he reached the two-mile mark, this was the extent of the anti-apperation wards. He had learned how to do it from one of the collective's memories and had practiced in a small room down below were the wards didn't work, but he had never apperated more than ten feet. Now he was going over a thousand miles in one jump. He let his breathing mellow out; he couldn't afford to mess up now. Concentrating on the spot he'd picked over a month ago to escape to he focused, and felt the sensation of being elongated into a rubber band. No time to screw up now, there was no one to help him should he splince himself. Then he was off, flying though the something, was it air, faster than anyone can move. He breath was frozen in his lungs and when he couldn't stand it anymore he was there. In an unused corner of Kockturn alley a black-cloaked figure appeared. The beggar he'd startled started to curse the stranger who'd just showed up but stopped and scrambled backwards as a cold hand constricted around her heart. Seeing the terrified beggar Harry sunk back down to the ground and transformed back into a human. Seeing no one who would recognize him, Harry cast a powerful paseltounge glamour spell on his face. This wouldn't fool Moody's eye but even he wouldn't be able to see beneath it. Then he walked off leaving a half scared to death beggar in the dark alley.

Harry stayed in the shadows of the alleys until he came to Gringotts. He would have to cross diagon alley to reach it. The alley had defiantly seen better days. Shops nearby seemed closed or shabby, like the owners had removed any displays to avoid attracting attention. There must have been a raid, or something like that. Few people where out and they hurried about their businesses, eyeing any strangers warily. Thankfully Harry was not challenged as he approached the Goblin bank. The line inside the building was thankfully short; he noticed that even in these dark times the bank was still displaying all of its opulence. The goblin at the counter regarded him ruefully.

Probably thinks I'm a beggar.

"Hello, may I speak with someone in your estate department?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No."

"Well seeing as how today is a slow day I'm sure we can work you in Mr."

"That is for me and the manger of my estate to know." The goblin looked rather perturbed at that but said nothing.

"Please wait over there, someone will come get you shortly." He gestured to a row of couches in the corner. Harry nodded and leaned on the wall by a bookcase. He would have sat down but then he was too notable from the entrance. A few wizards and witches came in, but their business was brief or they had appointments. Harry waited for almost half an hour before the goblin ushered him into an office. The goblin handed him a piece of parchment and a quill.

"If you would drip a little blood on the parchment, that will confirm whoever you are."

"Excuse me?" The goblin gestured at the parchment.

"That quill is quite sharp, prick yourself and bleed on the parchment. It is the effect of magically signing your name. No one can forge it." He turned. "The estate manager's representative will be here shortly."

"This is all confidential?"

"Of course." The goblin looked annoyed, but he left without saying anything else. Harry looked at the quill; it did have an abnormally sharp end. Tentatively he tapped the quill with one of his fingers. It must have been enchanted because he managed to prick himself with the slightest contact. Swearing Harry looked at his finger, blood was starting to ooze out of the wound and pool above the skin.

_Oh well there's the blood_.

Harry pressed his hurt finger to the parchment, the paper grew warm and when he removed it he saw his finger had been healed. The small dot of blood on the parchment glowed for a second and then the blood started to spread out. The small dot of blood was sucked into the sheet while lines of blood spread out until they formed a familiar signature, his.

"I see you have signed the blood script, if you'll give that to me we'll get started right away." Harry looked up to see another goblin walk in, this one sat behind the room's desk and waited expectantly. Harry was sure he'd seen him before, but facial distinctions between goblins were hard to make.

"Uh… okay." Harry stood and held out the parchment. "Excuse me, you look familiar. Have we met before?" The goblin looked at Harry, before taking the parchment.

"No I don't believe we've met Mr." He unfolded the parchment and gazed at it several seconds. "Potter?"

_Now I remember, of course he doesn't recognize me. The glamour and all._

"Yes. How are you Griphook?" If the goblin wasn't already shocked at learning Harry's true identity he certainly was now.

"Sir, you remember me?"

"Yes. I'm glad to see that you are moving up in the world. This is a higher ranking job than trolley operator?"

"Y-yes." Griphook remembered the time, almost six years ago, when Harry Potter had ridden in his trolley down to his vault. After all it wasn't everyday someone famous stops by, but most Wizards didn't even learn his name. Yet alone remember it after a day.

"I thought you were imprisoned."

"Details of my escape won't be known until..." Harry looked at the clock on the wall. "Around seven. Seeing I have only nine hours before I am officially a fugitive, is it possible for me to learn of the status of my account and whether or not I can access it?"

"O-of course Mr. Potter." Griphook quickly found the files on Harry's accounts and brought back a stack of file folders.

"That much for one vault?"

"Sir this is for all of your accounts."

_I never knew I had multiple accounts. _He nodded. After scanning through each of the folders Griphook looked up.

"Well, it seems you have three vaults, and four related accounts."

"Three vaults?"

"Yes. Your trust vault, the Potter family vault, and the Black family vault."

"The Black family vault?" _Sirius._

"Yes. Now if you would let me continue I can give you all the information you need."

"Sorry." Harry sunk back into the chair; he had almost stood at the mention of the Black family.

_Sirius must have left me it._

"Now your trust vault was created after the 1946 Goblin Wizard treaty, so it is under ministry laws. As such it was frozen immediately following your arrest, as were all of the related expense accounts. After your sentencing your accounts were unfrozen and have been operating normally under the care of your trust advisor."

"Who." The goblin scanned to the bottom of the page.

"Albus Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore." Harry hissed the name, his face contorting into a scowl.

That man had the nerve to mess with my accounts after he turned his back on me. I'm certain that he's not using them for the 'Free Harry Fund.'

"What has he been doing?"

"Well the expense accounts were set up by your grandfather to allow some of his investments essay access to funds. One of the investments went bankrupt and the account has had no actively since." He riffled through some papers. "Since just after it was unfrozen, when your trust advisor was appointed to all of your related accounts and withdrew the entire amount."

"Go on." Harry hissed.

_How dare he._

"During the time the accounts were frozen a second of the four investments went under. The funds from that account were also withdrawn. The other two investments are doing fine and dividends are deposited quarterly. Your trust account is a 4,000 Galleon account that is refilled every year at your birthday. Half of that amount is withdrawn each year to pay for your Hogwarts tuition. You might be unhappy to note that your tuition was paid for last year and this year."

"Figures. Have there been any withdraws from that account?"

"Well you personally have withdrawn a total of…" The goblin flipped to the next page tallying in his head. "Two thousand, four hundred and five Galleons over the past six years. Your trust manager has withdrawn the remainder of the account before it is replenished since, your second birthday."

The man had been taking his money, not since he'd forsaken him but long before he'd even met him.

"What about the vaults?"

"Well as the vaults where established before the treaty of 1946 so they were not frozen. As they are family vaults only one of blood or the heir may enter, so those vaults are not only yours but you can still access them."

"First good news, could you tell me about how I came into ownership of the Black vault?"

"Mr. Sirius Black left you sole ownership of the Black vaults and the title of Lord Black. His will left the family house at 12 Girmund place to a Mr. Remus Lupin." Griphook looked at another page and chuckled to himself. "The rest of his will leaves ten Galleons to one Beallatrix Lestrange..."

Harry gripped the edges of his chair tighter.

"Unless she had anything to do with his death, which she apparently did, in which case she got a lump of coal." Harry laughed for the first time all morning.

"That would be Sirius, funny to the end. So I have access to those vaults?"

"Yes. As you are officially of age as of, today, you have full power over those two family vaults and you have access to the titles Lord Potter and Black. Also you have ownership of the four properties listed under the Potter name."

"Really what do I own?"

"You own a townhouse in South Hampton, the Potter family estate in Scotland, a house in Godric's hallow, and a house in Hogsmead. The townhouse is currently under the Gringott's preservation and fidelus charm. The house in Godric's hallow has been abandoned since October of 1981."

Harry could feel a lump grow in his throat, that was where his parents died.

"The family estate is under a Gringott's preservation charm, and the house in Hogsmead currently has tenants in it. Would it be unwise of me to assume that you want to see the vaults you have access to?"

"Yeah, please lead the way."

Harry's head was spinning. He was rich, or at least he had two family vaults. He knew he had money but never this much. The amount of money that must have been used to refill his account for seventeen years, that was probably only a small bit of the Potter fortune. That of course led to Dumbeldore. That bastard had been taking money from his accounts since before he even came to Hogwarts. The fact that no one had stopped withdrawing funds for his tuition didn't come as a surprise, and after the trial the idea of him taking as much of my money made sense too. But he took money from me since I was a kid. He left me with the Dursely's and stole from me! That bastard had been using him, what he'd thought after confronting Dumbeldore in his office had been true.

Griphook led him down several flights of stairs to another trolley track. This time he got in the passenger compartment next to Harry and another goblin controlled the device.

"Excuse me does the cart have to go this slow?" The cart wasn't going at half the speed that it had been at when he visited the last time.

"Well as this is an older vault and most of the older families take offense to high speeds, I thought…"

"No, I don't mind. Can you bring it up to full speed?" Harry cut the driver off.

_Figures the purebloods can't handle anything._

"With pleasure sir." The goblin flashed a toothy grin. Then Harry was pressed back into his seat as the cart suddenly accelerated. It turned out that their top speed was almost twice of what was used by the normal operators. Apparently humans had problems moving at such high speeds. Harry was starting to see spots by the time they came to a stop in front of the Potter vault.

"Are you alright sir?" The goblin helped Harry out of the cart, his legs were still a little unsure.

"Humans weren't meant to go that fast."

"I'm sorry sir…"

"I didn't say it wasn't fun." The goblin smiled and stepped back to his cart to wait. Harry followed Griphook towards the ancient door.

"Only members of the Potter family may open the vault door, you'll need to bleed on the locking mechanism." Sighing Harry placed his hand in the appointed spot, a sharp pain latter the door soundlessly slid open. Harry opened and closed his mouth several times as he walked into the vault looking around. The vault was about the size of Hogworts' great hall. The entire right side was filled with Galleons and the left side looked like an old attic, with artwork furniture and books stacked up.

"Mr. Potter, my I enter?" Harry turned back to Griphook.

"What, sure. Why are you waiting outside?"

"Those not related by blood my only enter if a blood heir acknowledges them."

"Oh."

"Lets take care of the tittles first shall we?"

"Ok what do I do?" Harry followed Griphook to the back of the room and stopped in front of a pedestal.

"This is the family pedestal, it never leaves the vault. Place your hand on it and state your name, it will summon the markings of your inheritance to it."

Harry did as he was told, touching the silvery orb that lay in the center of the pedestal.

"Harry James Evans Black Potter."

_That would be the order of tittles and names right?_

The orb shimmered and then flashed. When the light died down enough for him to see again two rings lay on the velvet potion of the pedestal. Both were oversized gaudy rings, the kind a lord would wear. The Potter ring was gold, with the family crest of two swords crossed in front of a lion on the face. The Black family ring was silver, no platinum. It had a large piece of onyx for a face, with the family crest of a therestreial reared up on his hind legs, with several stars in the background. There was some writing too but it was in Celtic. He was pretty sure at least part of it translated to _turojunis pur_. As Harry slipped each ring on they glowed and warmed slightly as they recognized him as the heir.

"Very good, each of those rings has several abilities. Any correspondence sealed with these rings can only be opened by the intended recipient, each ring can disillusion itself and each one acts as a portkey to their respective vaults. Also no one but you may remove them."

Harry spent the next half an hour browsing the vault; he talked to the paintings of the previous Potter lords and ladies. Sadly his parents didn't have a picture hanging on the walls. The closest he got was a painting of his grandfather, it was painted before he had even met Harry's grandmother and as such wasn't able to offer much advice. As it turned out the Potter line had many members but had been seemingly cursed with the opposite of the Weasley line. As in Harry's grandfather was the only male born into that family that generation. Because of this Harry had almost twenty distant cousins but was the last Potter. Or so grandfather said, the Potter linage tree was at the family home in Scotland. Harry found a bottomless trunk and packed any interesting artifacts and books into it, along with some of the family's dress robes. They had the colors and crest on them. As it turned out Dumbledore's cryptic statements during Harry's second year had been right, the Potters were distantly related to Godric Grypindor. Aparently one of his great grand mothers was a Gryphindor that married into the Potter line. He would have to check the family tree and see whether he was the heir or just another great-great-great-great… grandchild.

Grabbing Griphook's hand Harry portkeyed to the Black vault and continued to fill his trunk.

"Remember Mr. Potter we need to go back for Sallock when you are done."

"Right. Do you know of anyway for me to get funds without carrying it around on me? Like a debit card or something?"

"Something. Yes I thought you may want something like that and took the liberty of bringing these with me. Catch." Harry easily grabbed the small money pouch he'd been tossed, there was something inside. Harry reached in a removed a wallet.

"The pouch is connected directly to your vaults, simply think about how much you need and from which vault before opening. The same principle holds true with the wallet, but for muggle money. The wallet also has two cards, one is an all-purpose id. Its picture will look like whatever you look like and it and the name will be whatever you are calling yourself, same idea with age. The second is a credit card linked to the Potter family vault. Most muggle stores will accept it and a few wizarding ones too. There are some bank drafts in there as well."

"Thanks." Harry stored the wallet and money pouch.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"No." Harry grabbed Griphook and porkeyed back to the Potter vault. Salock was standing outside looking for them.

"Griphook, why are you helping me? Isn't adding a criminal a crime?"

"Well even if I thought you were guilty, we goblins have stayed out of human affairs for quite a while now. The fact that we turn a blind eye to those whose funds we protect has ensured us neutrality in this coming war."

"Wait you think I'm innocent."

"Well I personally looked over the facts of the case, you were convicted on a mountain of circumstance evidence and hearsay. Amazingly there was little or no physical evidence admitted. Also about three months ago the banks council came into possession of some files that implicate Minister Fudge in a variety of corruption schemes, your framing is only one of them."

"You have evidence that could free me?"

"No, the documents we have are copies of copies. They wouldn't hold up in court but the evidence that will exonerate you is around there somewhere."

"Thank you for this Griphook." Harry left the vault and it sealed behind him. "There are several things I need you to do for me. First remove the fidealus and preservation charms from the property in South Hampton. Second either close my trust account or cut it off from the Potter family vault. If you can do both of these things as close to closing time I'd really appreciate it."

"I'll see what I can do." They boarded the trolley and went back up to the surface; they were going fast, but not fast enough to threaten Harry with unconsciousness.

"Oh, and Griphook. Whatever your getting for seeing me today, double it."

"Yes Lord Potter." Griphook was grinning from ear to ear when the emerged from the trolley. Harry pulled his hood over himself and recast his glamour spell, the vault's wards' had canceled them. "Honor to your house and wealth to you clan Lord Potter."

Harry repeated the traditional Goblin blessing and left feeling a lot better.

_I'm not alone. Some people believe me, they won't help me exonerate myself but they know I didn't do it._

Harry sighed and left diagon alley through the closest exit. He needed a better disguise before he traveled back into that alley. People could detect and even lower glamour charms, but he knew of no spell that would undo muggle makeup.

As diagon alley was nestled in down town London, it wasn't hard to find a department store. He figured he would need a completely new wardrobe. At first the sales clerk looked suspiciously at him, but after Harry flashed the gringotts card he was ushered in and was partnered up with a bouncy sales girl who took the time to show, and force him to try on, half the men's collection. An hour latter Harry left the store with far more clothing than he had ever had in his life, and the girl's number. He didn't know why he such an effect on women. He normally couldn't even talk to girls, maybe he was only supper suave and charming to women he didn't care about. It had taken him over six months to act romantically around Neri, and there was no point in brining up his earlier attempts at romance.

He'd gotten six pairs of jeans, three black and three blue, two pairs of Kakis and two dress slacks. He now had almost ten T-shirts, seven collared shirts and a full set of underwear. Topping everything off were two suits and three pairs of shoes, one pair of trainers, one pair of sandals and one pair of dress shoes. Not to mention all the belts and such that Gabby, that was the sales girl, had said looked adorable on him. He left the store wearing a pair of black baggy jeans that were tight around the crouch area, and a black T-shirt with the name of some rock band on it. Personally he didn't like the jeans but Gabby had insisted they made him look really hot. She picked out that shirt because she like them as a band and in her words 'you look best in black.' Truthfully he had no idea who Korn was and looking at the image on his shirt, didn't want to know. He had thrown away the robes he'd worn into the store and as soon as he was alone he un-shrunk his trunk and tossed all the clothing inside it.

People in downtown London either gave the teen a wide berth or ignored him. Harry liked the anonymity that muggle life afforded. Of course the Glamour spell that changed his eye color worked too, he had lowered it in the store so the sales girl wouldn't pick out anything that didn't work with what he really looked like. He wasn't magically covering his scar it this point but his long matted hair took care of that. Which led to his next stop, Harry entered a small hair salon off the main street. While the place said it was unisex and he would have felt more at ease in a barbershop, Harry was certain that the intensive care his hair needed would need a women's touch. The place was nearly empty and he was quickly waved over to a station. His stylist was young, maybe twenty-four, but no older. She had short stock white hair, probably dyed, and was wearing a tight blue shirt and jeans.

"Hi, I'm Suzette. What can I do for you?" Her smile was infectious and even Harry's sour mood from earlier evaporated.

"I'm Harry, and well I need to do something about this." Harry gestured at the mass of black hair that now hung down to the top of his neck.

"Eww, how long has in been since you washed it?"

"You don't want to know."

"Ok, well I can fix even this up in a jiffy."

"There's more, I need it dyed. I'm thinking white blonde, like what your hair would like if you dyed it blonde." She made a face and wrinkled her nose.

"That may be just a tad more complicated, but I can do it. Do you want me to cut it?"

"No I like longer." She leaned his chair back so his head was resting in a bowl and got to work. She hummed to a tune on the radio as she worked at washing a years worth of grime and sweat out of his hair.

"That's a neat scar, where'd you get it?" Harry scowled briefly at this.

"Car crash." He used the line his realities had used.

"Sorry." Seeing his reaction she was quick to change the subject. "Err, nice shirt. What's your favorite song?" Harry realized she was pointing to his shirt and cursed silently.

"Well I don't really listen to them, it was a gift from my ex."

"It looks new to me."

Damn she caught me in a lie.

"We just broke up."

"I'm sorry…" Her voice trailed off and she looked back at her work. "…So did I." "Well I just finished the first step." She held up a mirror. "How do you like it so far?"

She had straightened and cleaned his hair and was in the process of bleaching it. Currently it had a nasty color of peroxide blonde.

"Ok, but I hope this isn't the final result." She laughed, once again in a good mood.

I wasn't aware that what I said was the least bit funny.

She continued to ask questions while she worked but Harry deftly avoided them and asked about her life. People love to talk about themselves and Suzette was no exception.

An hour latter Harry paid Suzette and left He also learned far more than he needed to know about the stylist and even had her number and an invite to a party over the weekend. Why was it so easy for him to pick up girls when he didn't want them?

His hair was now the same type of white blonde, almost silver, that Neri had. It laid down along the back of his head. She'd cut it into a manageable length around his face but his bangs almost touched his eyebrows and covered his scar. After a short stop in an optometrist to replace his glasses with blue contacts no one should recognize him. He would have chosen gray, but he was trying to look more like Neri not Mafloy. The real test was up ahead though, because after eating he would be heading back into Diagon alley, this time he needed things from the main stretch and couldn't hide in the shadow. There shouldn't be anyone looking for him yet but he'd been spotted every other time he'd entered that place.

Harry ate at a fast food restaurant outside in muggle London but when he came in to the leaky cauldron he took a seat in the corner. People watched new faces warily and he wanted to make sure everyone had gotten used to the blond and went back to there own thing before he made a move for the backdoor. People he didn't know came and left and after ordering and downing a butter beer Harry made his way for the back. Once entering the alley proper Harry made his way to Madam Malkins. His muggle clothing would draw attention so first he needed to get some suitable and nondescript robes. Luckily the clothing store was like most of Diagon alley, half deserted. He purchased two simple brown robes and one forest green robe. He chose to done the green robe before leaving. He had no need for any of the books that Flourish and Bolts sold, yet, he instead went straight to the apothecary and stoked up on every potion ingredient they had. While he was still lousy at the 'art' of potion making, he at least knew how now.

He found himself in the pet emporium picking up owl treats before he stopped himself. Tears came unbidden to his eyes as he reminded himself that Hedwig; his always loyal, always friendly, and forever innocent owl was gone. Putting down the owl treats he walked into the reptile section to avoid the gaze of the few people in there watching a young man get teary over a bag of food.

As he'd expected the reptile section was empty. With dark wizards running around people were unnerved by anyone showing an interest in reptiles in general and snakes in particular. Right now another pet, no companion, wasn't what he was looking for but he still walked by and admired the lizards and snakes as he made a short circuit of the room. As he passed by the far wall he stopped and turned to admire a cobra. It wasn't a normal snake, probably magical as it was easily as long as a python but was currently raised up about a foot its hood fully extended. The snake bore an uncommon resemblance to Nagiri, Voldemort's pet. Out of curiosity Harry approached the snake and leaned down next to the tank.

"Thatss itss sstupid human. Put your hand in here and getsss whatss iss comingss." Harry smiled at that.

"Aren't you the nasssty oness." If snakes could show surprise this one surly did.

"You can sspeak my languagess?"

"Quite well, why are you in ssuch a bad moods?" The snake shifted in its tank and its face took on the appearance of mock outrage, well it didn't but Harry imaged that what it would do if it could.

"You try living for five monthsss in a tank sso ssmale you can't even sstreach outss." Harry chuckled ruefully at that.

"Try a yearss."

"Could you help mess?"

"Prehapess but why should Iss?"

"I'm ssure I can do ssomthing to help you if you help messs."

"You won't bite me, will youss?"

"Of coursse not, if you help me I will be in your debts." Harry didn't believe this snake in the least but decided that no one disserved to be held like that; Harry glanced around at the other snakes in the emporium. There were seven of them and it was unlikely anyone would buy them, ever. Not with the superstitious wizards that they sold to.

"Sstay here I'll be right backss." The snake looked almost insulted at that.

"Like I can go anywheress." It answered sarcastically.

Harry steeled himself and walked up to the clerk.

"Hello I'd like to buy all seven of your snakes and fifteen mice." The store clerk looked at him like he was crazy.

"Seven snakes?"

"Yes."

"You know that snakes are…"

"I don't care what they are, no creature disserves to be locked up in a tinny cage. And knowing the situation the likely-hood that anyone will help them is slim." The clerk softened, as he was sure no dark wizard would care about the well being of some snakes.

"Alright then Mr.?" Harry had deliberately not given a name but withholding a name would make the clerk even more suspicious than he was.

"Darracun." He used Neri's last name.

"Ok Mr. Darracun, I assume you will want the cages as well."

"Yes."

"Well then your total is seventy seven Galleons and six knurts. I'll get you the mice you can stack the cages anyway you'd like. Will you need a box to carry them in?"

"No I can take care of that." Harry paid the man and then returned to the reptile room and unshrunk his trunk.

"Your not putting me in there are youss?"

"Would you prefer to sstay, I'm ssure sssomeone will caress." The snake was silent and did not protest any further. Harry quickly levitated the cages into the trunk. A pair of magical snakes thanked him, but the majority only voiced their displeasure at being moved. The non-magical snakes must not be that smart, for they only talked of food. A minute later the clerk came back with the mice and Harry stored them away and shrunk the trunk again. Pocketing it he left the store and headed into Knockturn alley.

He still wanted a pair of wand holsters and a second, more normal wand. His wand was incredibly powerful but its non-wood construction and length would draw attention. Not to mention that the only place for wands on Diagon alley, Olivanders, was not a good idea. That man knows things he shouldn't and that made him dangerous. Harry vaguely wondered if he'd see right through his disguise, but wasn't going to find out. After a short stop by Borgins and Burkes he found his wand holsters, a few trinkets and the location of another wand shop, which happened to cost more than everything else he'd brought.

The place he was pointed to was a small and seedy pub, a few people were around but no one paid him any mind. Following the instructions he had Harry walked up to the bar and asked for Daniel. The barman looked both ways before leaning forward.

"What do you want?"

"I've been told that he's the man to talk to for extra or special wands."

"Ho do I know you're not a Auror." The bartender was growling.

"How bought I kill you and find Daniel myself, an Auror wouldn't do that." The man looked at him and shrugged.

"Back room, door on the far left. Knock twice." The bartender backed up and ignored Harry. Smirking he walked to the hallway in the back and made his way to what Daniel's door. Daniel was short, about five four and while he had blonde hair the gray and white locks spattered through it reveled his age.

"What do you want?"

"I need a normal wand."

"Go to Olivander, I only do custom jobs." He barked. Harry pulled out his wand, the old man reacted drawing his own, but Harry reversed it and held it out to Daniel.

"Do you think its any good?" He took it and inspected it, before returning it.

"Very interesting, and powerful."

"And noticeable, I need a wand that is simple. Doesn't need power I won't use it for that but I need something that won't attract attention."

"Hmm." Daniel muttered, he walked over to a shelf and pulled out a box.

"Take one." He was holding a box of about twenty wands. "There all ten inches, maple with a core of powdered dragon scale. Anyone should be able to use it with no problem."

"These aren't registered I assume."

"What do you take me for? They're completely untraceable and muddle your magical signature."

"How much?"

"Oh not much, 100 Galleons." The man wanted ten times as much for a weak wand.

"I'll give you sixty."

"It's not up for negotiation."

"Eighty Galleons."

"Are you deaf boy?" Harry sighed and paid the man full price.

"I can count on me never being here."

"Of course what do you take me for?"

Harry smiled and mumbled a fool under his breath, but he left. This was the last thing he needed. He checked his watch, it was only 2:30 the wards around the Hampton place wouldn't fall until around five so there was no point in going before then. Harry returned to the Leaky Cauldron, got a copy of the Daily Prophet and a drink and took a seat in one of the corners. From the shadowed both he could see most of the tavern and nursed his butter beer while skimming over the days events. Reports of disappearances and dark marks were absent from the front page. Instead it was covering some social function. In fact the only death eater activity reported was an 'unexplained' disappearance in Hogsmead. It was really sad how much the Prophet resembled a tabloid and not a respectable paper. Of course he had known that for three years now, but he'd hoped that they might change. It wasn't like he'd read paper in two months.

Harry looked up to see three very familiar faces enter the pub, two with red hair and one with brown hair. Hermione Ron and Ginny. The three teens took seats in an open table just inside of earshot.

"Remember we can't stay long we need to find a gift for Neville." Hermione said.

"Relax, the party's not until five. First we need to get some food." Ron responded.

"Ron you just ate."

"That was two hours ago, I'm hungry."

"Your always hungry." Ginny cut in. For his part Ron made a face. Hermione giggled and Harry had to stop himself from chuckling as well. He missed his friends. They talked aimlessly for several minutes and Harry started to tune them out like he used to do at school. He was glad they couldn't see him from behind the paper.

"You know it's Harry's birthday too." Ginny was real quite about it, but the heated conversation between the other immediately stopped.

"What do you think we should bother to send him something?" Ron spat out.

"Ginny we've been through this before, he betrayed us. We did nothing to feel guilty about." Hermione quieted Ron.

_I could say differently!_

"Besides we're out of things to burn and send him."

"We could always send his Firebolt Ron."

"No way Gin, that broom has won more qudicth games with me than it ever did with that glory seeking git."

_How dare they. After leaving me to rot without any sort of trial they have the nerve to feel offended._

Harry was starting to shake in anger and decided to leave before he did something he'd regret. No he wouldn't regret anything he might do but it wasn't a good idea to stay around. Harry got up and left his bill on the table before exiting, leaving his three former friends bickering, gracefully unaware of his presence. Well two former friends, Ginny seamed sorry for what happened, he might forgiver her, in time. Harry apperated to the address of the house and sat down on a bench to wait. The town house, number 1234 wasn't there of course. It shouldn't appear between 1232, and 1236 until the fideauls was dropped.

Harry passed the time by messing with his new wand. Any muggles passing by would have just seen a young man absentmindedly waving a stick at the ground. He was using a silent version of the locomortis spell to move a leaf around. The first thing he noticed about his wand was that it was a waste of money. The wand was little more than a over glorified training wand. Training wands were toys that wizardling kids got around the age of six or seven. They functioned like regular wands except the spells that they could cast were limited. This wand didn't leave a magical signature that could be tracked and couldn't be priori incantiumed. The downside was that the wand was much weaker than an average wand, and actually worked against him rather than with him. It was easer to cast most spells wandlessly than with this wand. He scowled but put the wand away, it would do the job he needed of it, even if he had to tinker with it.

After receiving a few odd looks from passerby's he removed his robe. Of course the punk rock t-shirt received a few more odd looks from the neighbors. Finally it was five and the house waived into view, the goblins had kept their word. Harry quickly walked up to the three-story town house and tried the door. It was locked. Pulling his wand Harry tapped it to the door. Like the house at Girmund place the wand activated the locking mechanism and seconds latter the door opened.

While the house had been empty for a while the preservation charms where still in place. The entrance hallway was a light brown hardwood that led past several rooms to the staircase in the back. Each of the rooms were magical enlarged. The first floor had a large living room with a nice view of the street, a den slash library that took up most of the right side of the floor and a small dinning room. The second floor contained a kitchen and a full dining room, as well as two bathrooms and a pair of bedrooms. The third floor had three bedrooms and the master bed bathroom. The single fireplace in living room ran through each floor in the dinning room and the master bedroom, only the living room entrance was set up for floo. Most of the furniture had already been removed; the few things that were left were all covered in sheets.

After taking a precursory glance around Harry unshrunk his trunk and left in the master bedroom room. Returning to the living room Harry began to chant and draw runes into the floor with his wand, the good one. Two runes for each of the directions of a compass point. The runes scorched the wooden floor, leaving an acidic bite to the air. Completing the incantation he raised his wand towards the ceiling. A white light washed over the room, if anyone outside even saw the property through the anti-muggle charms they would have watched as the two buildings next to it reached out and swallowed it. The fiduelus charm had been recast.

Harry plopped himself down onto the covered couch, the runes on the floor were rapidly disappearing. The fiduelus charm should keep him safe from detection, for now. The books said you needed more than one person to cast a fiduels charm but that was only to increase the charms strength. If the caster is also the secret keeper, the charm can be defeated by killing the caster. Normally you'd have to remove both people to get the charm to fail. Not to mention the huge magical drain it took to hide something like a building inside yourself. At the moment Harry was exhausted and decided to take a nap, he laid out on the couch and pulled the sheet over his head. His first day as a free man in over a year, he liked it better when he was with Neri.

While Harry slept alarms started to go off in Azkaban. The guard that had brought food to Harry for the past few months found his cell to be empty. At number 12 Girmund place Ron didn't know what was going on. Professor Dumbeldore had called an emergency meeting and his mother had quickly shooed him Hermione and Ginny out of the kitchen. The imperutible charms on the doors prevented them from using extendable ears to listen in so the three had retreated upstairs to wait until they could go back and ferret what had happened out of one of the Order members.

A grave faced Albus Dumbledore addressed the assembled order members. The executive council of the Order of the Phoenix consisted of, Seuvrus Snape, Minerva McGrounal, Arthur and Molly Weasley, Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody, Kingsly Shakalbot, and Mungdamass Flecther. The assembled members watched the aged headmaster with worry, he hadn't said what the meeting was about and the usual twinkle in his eyes was notability absent. He cleared his throat and began.

"Today there was a break out at Azkaban." He began without preamble. There were gasps and growls from the council.

"Was it? You-know-who?" Flecther finally asked. Voldemort had not tried to get any of his people that he'd lost a year ago at the department of mysteries yet.

"The Dark Lord has told me nothing of a break out." Snape answered.

"This was not a mass break out and the prison was not attacked. Sometime between when breakfast was served and when they brought the prisoners dinner, one person simply disappeared."

"Who?" Molly didn't like the direction this was going. Dumbeldore gave the assembled group another long look before answering.

"Harry Potter."


	5. Fugitive

A/N: Slow but important chapter. Fear not the next chapter offers us a peak at Harry's new fighting skills. Since the vast majority of my reviews commented on what Harry will do to his 'friends' I'll just clear up something now. Harry has had closer to three years to think and stew on their actions, don't worry they get theirs, and then some and then some more, but don't expect him to curse them as soon as he sees them or start ranting and blow his cover. This chapter will also start to explain why everyone suddenly turned on him. :A/N

Chapter 4

**Fugitive**

What happened next would have been hilarious had the situation not been serious. There were several gasps, a few chocking noises, scattered grunts growls and coughs. Remus let out a low menacing growl while Kingsly let out a few quiet and unrepeatable curses. Molly managed to faint, or at least fall back in her chair and almost lose her balance. Arthur caught her and she was able to sit back up in a couple of seconds. Moody simply narrowed his living eye; his magical one was spinning like crazy. Snape was the first to regain any form of composure.

"How did that brat get out?"

"We don't know. The guards searched the main prison and found nothing, it's like he just vanished."

"Main prison?"

"There are catacombs beneath the prison, the dementors live down there and say no one came through." Everyone started talking at once, about either why Harry was guilty or how he managed to escape. Becoming annoyed Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"We must recapture him before he has a chance to return to Tom. Severus my boy, when is the next death eater meeting?"

"They don't set a schedule but I am overdue to be summoned."

"Good find out what you can? Everyone else, we need to put our people in areas that he might visit. We also need to up security here at headquarters, maybe even recast the fidelius."

"All of that Albus?"

"Yes Minerva. Harry knows where we are and will most likely come seeking revenge." The group gave a collective shudder, well most of them. Snape looked perturbed with the idea that the boy could be a threat

"Molly could you go upstairs and tell the kids?"

"But there just kids, they can't help us in this."

"Maybe not but as this will be all over the papers tomorrow they should know now. And Harry may try to contact them." Molly's sharp intake of breath showed she understood.

"Right I'll get right on it." Mrs. Weasley and Profesor Snape left leaving the others to plan a search pattern. Snape headed towards the front door clutching his arm, while Molly headed upstairs.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting in the bedroom Hermione and Ginny shared when Mrs. Weasley came in.

"Mum you look white as a sheet. What's wrong?"

"Well there's no good way to say this so…"

"Yeah." Ron said impatiently.

"Harry escaped from Azakban." The effect was similar to what happened downstairs. Hermione gasped, Ron growled and Ginny broke into tears and left the room.

"Ginny, Ginny!" Hermione called after her.

"Never mind her, what happened? How?"

"We don't know. We don't know how, he just disappeared."

While Hermione and Ron were trying to find out all the details Ginny had calmed down and was heading up to the attic. Harry had escaped, she should be happy right? She was sad that it had to come to that, that Harry was imprisoned in the first place. Whatever the others said they should have supported Harry even if he did do it, and Ginny didn't believe that he did. The Harry she knew would, could never do something so horrible. She wrote a quick note and gave it to her owl Peruses. Her mother had bought it for her last year.

"Please find him. Don't wait for a response I don't want anyone to find him."

When Harry awoke he cast a quick temptus spell and found out it was almost ten. He hurried up to his trunk and began to unpack. The first thing he removed where the various snake cages and the box of mice. After feeding each snake he opened the cages and sat them down.

"All of you are free to goss." The normal snakes thanked him but remained in their cages. Harry gathered them and carried them downstairs where he let them all out of a window and into the bushes outside. Serpentine curses and thanks could be heard. When he returned upstairs he was confronted with three snakes, two were small black snakes with a blue strip running down their backs. The third was the oversized cobra that got his attention in the first place.

"I ssiad you could go. Why do you remains?"

"If it is not a burdansss…" The first small snake began.

"…We would like to sstay heresss." The second finished.

"Alright, I can sset up ssomthing in the basement for you. Isss that alrightss."

"Yess." The two answered.

"Now then what about yousss." The six foot long cobra raised it self up as high as it could to get a better look at Harry.

"I have been imprisssoned for ssso long. You sssaved me and I owe you a debt. I would like to accompany you and help repay my deptss."

"You owe me nothing friend ssnake, but if you would like to come with me I will not stop youss."

"Thank youss." Harry picked up the two small snakes and let the larger snake drape itself around his shoulders. It was heavy. Harry carried the three down to the basement, it still had a ton of old things that he would have to go through one day. For now he just placed the two snakes in a shallow box in the corner near a window at ground level. The snakes assured him they could climb up and out so he left the window cracked and left it at that. Carrying the larger snake upstairs Harry sat down on the still covered couch and wondered what he would do next. There was still plenty of stuff in his bottomless trunk to unpack and he needed more furniture for this place. He needed food too, and that couldn't wait until tomorrow.

"Sso what iss your namesss?" The cobra slithered off Harry and curled up on the couch. Then it hissed something completely untranslatable.

"Ssory can you ssay that again. I completely missssed thatss." Again more hisses.

"I can't understand, or ssay that."

"Humansss." It gave a sound very close to a snort.

"Can I call you ssomething elsse thenss?"

"Go aheadss."

"Alright, can I call you… wait are you male or femalesss?"

"Like I ssaid before, idiot humansss. I am femalesss."

"Oh. Will Artimiss do? Sshe is the greek goddesss of the moon and of the huntsss."

"Yesss. That will do fine." Artimis laid her head down and was silent. Harry would have stayed there if not for the growling of his stomach. He stood and after making sure his disguise was in place, walked outside and down the street. He had seen a pizza parlor earlier.

When he returned Artimis had not moved from her position on the couch. After that he went up to his room and began to empty the bottomless trunk he had taken from his vault. The books went into a stack on the floor of the library/den, artifacts went into one of the unused bedrooms and clothing went into his closet. Harry set aside a few knives that seemed useful but left the rest to sort out when he had more time. Just because he mentally didn't need rest didn't mean his body wasn't exhausted. Harry assumed a lotus position on his bed and transformed. The feeling of cold and ice of the transformation was immediately replaced by an externally warm and happy feeling. Concentrating Harry lowered his aura until no one would even notice, the ice that had begun to form around the room stopped. Closing his eyes he traveled down the familiar pathway to the collective, letting his body fall into a meditative trace.

Ashe emerged into the conclave he was greeted by the sight of the slowly rotating galaxy permeated by swirling mists, the warm emotions he knew the mist stood for no longer affected him. He started forward just above the ecliptic, looking for Neri. You couldn't really smell in the collective, but smell was the closest sense he could use to describe how he could sense her. After all Neri had a unique scent. He found her at the edge of one of the larger 'clusters' of souls. Entering the memory he found himself in a humungous warehouse like room. Spread out on the ground before him lay a lounge. That was the best description he could really find, there were booths and chairs spread out. Some were in raised areas while others sunk into the ground. Then there were the people; they were all over everywhere, and everyone. The place must be a swinger club's version of heaven, or hell as some of the things they were doing didn't look very holy at all.

"Neri." As usual no one noticed his voice, he floated towards where he thought she might be and called out again.

"Over here." Neri was sitting by a couple, no seven people wasn't really a couple, involved in an orgy.

"Don't you wish you could join in?" She sighed and laid her head on Harry's arm, he had just sat beside her.

"Every guys dream, well except those two." He pointed to a pair of men, who were quite busy, with each other. Neri giggled.

"I wish… I wish that all of this power wasn't mine. I had to give up so much, had to be alone for so long."

"With great power comes great responsibility." Harry quoted.

"Do you ever wish that you were normal? That you could just live and die in peace?"

"I did once, then I remembered that every thing that has happened to me makes me who I am today. If I lived a different life I wouldn't exist."

"Poetic. So would you change anything?"

"Before I met you I would have, but now… now I don't think so." Neri waved her hand through the person closest to them, like an image in a pensive her hand passed right thought.

"You want to join them?" She purred and ran her hand across his arm. He kissed her, but then pushed her back.

"Not tonight, the pleasures of the flesh are better than that of the mind." She pouted.

"Don't knock it until you've tried it." Harry smiled, then laughed and kissed her again. They found a secluded spot to simply talk until Harry was forced to get up. Meanwhile across the country, in another location that was hidden from view.

"Severus, what do we know?" The twinkling eyes of the headmaster had gone dim; tonight was not a good night. He'd figured that if he was the one to find the evidence that would free Harry the boy would be indebted to him for life, but he had to go and escape. If that boy proved his innocence then he, and everyone else for that matter, would be in for a long trek attempting to regain his trust. The spy cleared his throat.

"The Dark Lord is displeased with the situation, I've been able to gather that he was planning to attack Azkaban sometime next week, but Potter's escape has thrown off his plans. He's now convinced that someone tipped off Potter and is looking for spies."

"Why would Potter run if he found out about a chance for freedom?" Mad-eye interrupted.

"From what I can gather, the Dark Lord didn't turn Potter." He paused and let the incredulous mutterings of the others pass. "The boy apparently went off the deep end on his own."

"Thank you Severus." Dumbledore silenced the rest of the order, who were muttering among themselves.

"It is imperative that we recapture Potter before the ministry finds him, or before he manages to contact the death eaters. Even if he has not yet, he may very well join them with no were else to go. We have already increased the guard on the burrow and Hogworts. I need everyone else to increase patrols of Diagon alley and Hogsmead. He will have to go there at some point. If that is all dismissed. I believe Molly made dinner, yes?" The Weasley matriarch nodded then went to get the food, never mind it was almost midnight. Mrs. Weasley cooked when she was nervous.

While everyone else went to help him or herself Dumbledore remained in his chair. He knew Harry had been innocent, yet he had helped to lock him away anyway. Fudge had an iron grip on that trial, it was better to go along and secretly look for the evidence exonerating the boy, rather than stand beside Harry and be destroyed publicly when Harry was found guilty. If he lost his position of power or his image, he'd never be able to regain it. But now that damn boy was lose, if Harry didn't stay soft and pliable there would be no way to defeat Tom. Harry stood no chance against his former protégé. No, the only way for Harry to win was to sacrifice himself in the processes; it was for the greater good. Dumbledore sighed and kept telling himself it was the only way.

When Harry awoke from his meditative trance the sun was starting to rise. He stretched and began to prepare for the day, water was currently not running in the house but a few charms put together a temporary fix so he could shower. Harry dressed in slacks and a simple collared shirt. His plans for today included filling his new home with furniture and creating an identity in the wizardiing world. It wouldn't do to just use a random name each time someone asked. After all people would eventually notice that he showed up the same time that Harry Potter escaped. Harry decided to start with the living room. He had already removed the sheets that had been tossed over the sofa. Said sofa was a nasty green thing that he'd certainly have to do something about, even if it was comfortable.

To start he levitated the couch and laid the sheet out over the hardwood floor. A few transfigurations latter he had a plush, if not blandly uniform, carpet. Harry enlarged the couch and positioned it under the window, then changed the color to a beige. He decided to buy or transfigure most of the things he did, conjured stuff just wasn't the same. Seeing as how the living room was now empty, save the now awake and disgruntled Artimis, Harry began to organize his library. Harry arranged the books alphabetical by author and in categories. The books from the Potter library were primarily journals, autobiographies, and a few books on wards. The books kept in the Black family vaults were also primarily composed of journals and other personal works of the Blacks. There was also a small section that apparently had been sealed in a safe; the charms that sealed it had collapsed long ago.

There were several scrolls in here that looked beyond ancient, the fact that Harry didn't already know the material spoke of volumes. He was really surprised they still were around, they looked to be well preserved notes on necromancy and from what he'd read Sirius' mother was far to interested in necromancy for her own safety. She'd died in an accident involving the forbidden branch of magic. Unfortunately most of her notes were lost. Harry would have loved to see them, he only had a rudimentary knowledge of the subject and he was certain that Voldemort had used something in necromancy or soul magic to become the way he was. Harry could summon an inferi but that wasn't very useful. He hadn't actually tried either, but he knew how. The only type of magic that Neri had not let him learn was soul magic, it was something that dementors had a natural talent in, but she said he wasn't ready yet.

After putting together his library Harry moved to the collection of daggers and swords that had adorned the Black and Potter family vaults. The Potter vault was full of ornamental swords. From what he could tell every Potter male had a custom made long sword. The exception had been his father, while each of these swords were sharp and could be wielded in combat, the amount of decorations and the lack of any useful combat enchantments meant they were for adorning walls rather than killing. Harry decided that he would eventually make a sword but his would be as useful in combat as he could make it. The weapons of the Black vault were almost a polar opposite, the weapons section had looked like the hoard of some sort of ancient dragon, the spoils of battle and what not.

Each of the long and short swords were obviously made for combat, while well made few had the gaudy decorations on the pommel or the etching done on the blade. Most were enchanted and several were obviously designed for purposes much darker than simple combat. The Black collection also had a small share of daggers, both for throwing and stabbing. Harry converted one of the bedrooms into a museum to hold the legacies of the two old families that he was now the sole heir. Before he left to shop for furniture Harry took a pair of black knives that seamed to be etched in a way that they glowed in the dark. A quick scan showed several harmful enchantments, though none for the wielder. He disillusioned them and tucked them into his belt before exiting and traveling on foot to the tubes.

His first stop was a furniture store. He bought sofas, recliners and tables that fit with the existing décor of the living room and den/library. Rather than finding chairs to match the tables in the dinning rooms he instead just bought the cheapest wooden chairs and pledged to transfigure them to match. A few cunfudus, and shrinking charms latter the sales manager remembered Harry driving off in a truck with his new merchandise, all the while it was safely shrunk and tucked away in his trunk. He wanted to stop by an electronics shop but had no idea how the ambient magic of his new home would react with the equipment. Not to mention that the place had been wired sometime in the twenties, and not changed since. Instead Harry turned into a ratty alley and approached the hooker that was calling to him.

A few hours and several morally questionable legilimency and memory spells latter Harry returned to his new place with an excellent forged ID. Harry Potter, no Dimitri Darracun, had recently emigrated from Eastern Europe. He would need a magical paper trail to go along with his muggle ID, so he began to prepare a portkey for Prague. International portkeys were watched and the processes, while no harder than a normal portkey, required much more power. First he cast several nullifier wards to prevent the portkey from being traced or noticed. Next he set up an identical set of delayed response wards that would set up upon arrival, hiding his signature from the authorities on the other side. Finally he concentrated on an alley in the city he'd chosen. He'd gotten the location from one of the many memories he'd seen. Harry held up the object he'd chosen, a spoon. He never had understood the idea of using a piece of trash for a very useful object.

"_Portus!" _The spoon glowed blue for a second before returning to normal. He got a good grip and activated it with a mental command. With a whooshing noise Harry disappeared from his living room, startling the only other occupant, who was lazing in the sun watching the wizard she'd 'taken in.'

Prague was a pretty city in Harry's opinion. The street he was walking on had a river on one side and several outdoor cafes on the other. Harry ignored this and walked into a particular café that was currently empty. After greeting one of the waiters Harry walked down into the cellar and taped a keg with his wand. The keg widened until it was the size of a sewer pipe that a person could walk through.

Daliborka road was situated underground. There was a tower that the muggles visited that was above the north end of the massive system, and an old orthodox church on the south end. All in all the entire place was about five and a half miles long and almost a quarter a mile wide at the top. When Harry walked in on the bottom level it was like walking into an underground canyon. Each of the seven levels above was terraced so there was room for people to walk Harry took a second to gawk at the sights before continuing on. The cobblestone street along the bottom level looked like diagon alley, with shops and cafes along the sides, well accept that in diagon alley the side alleys led to different streets, here they led to stairwells to the next level.

Harry walked to one of the circular stones that were in alcoves cut into the wall, once he was on the stone rose ten feet into the at and let him off on the second level. Harry continued to travel up the elevator platforms until he reached the forth level where he flagged a flying carpet. He had to wait for a couple to off load a large object that looked like an organ before he could climb aboard. While carpets were considered muggle artifacts and thereby illegal in England, here there was no such rule. The carpet was five feet long by three feet wide, on the outside. Once you were inside the privacy charms that blurred your image to anyone outside and the carpet was more like ten feet square. Harry took a seat on one of the many scattered cushions and gave the driver his destination, Baracnicka Hanavsky. The driver looked at him oddly for a few seconds but after Harry's smile grew much frostier than it had been the driver took off, here the various carpets obeyed traffic laws rather than squeeze around everything that moved, like the knight bus. It made for a relaxing ride. Harry took the time to look over the sides at the people bustling around, they passed the shops section and interred the heavy commercial and industrial section.

Fewer people were out; tourists traveled by carpet to pass this section of the underground city. The passed by the nondescript doors of the potions factories and moved into the residential section, middle to lower class people lived here. After all not all wizards were rich and could afford mansions out in the countryside. Then the apartments gave way to condos and compounds, shops could be seen again. This was the ritzy section of the city, many of the things that were sold at the other entrance couldn't be found here. This wasn't where the normal people shopped but where the wealthy and famous did. On this side of the city you could find gold platted dueling wands and oddities that were ridiculously overpriced, but brought anyway. On the seventh level in this area Harry got off, paid the driver, well pilot and walked up to one of the most prestigious restaurants in the city. The Baracnicka Hanavsky was the seat of power of one of the most influential crime families in all of Eastern Europe. Their magic naturally made them so almost unstoppable in muggle circles, and they were one of the major players inside the magical world as well. The restaurant itself wasn't much to visit, if you wanted to eat there the food was good but you needed reservations almost a month in advance. People, like Harry came here because this was where you came to contract the services of the Baracnickas.

The hostess sneered at the normal clothing that Harry wore but quickly warmed up when he mentioned the code word required to speak with the proprietors of 'special services.' Harry was escorted upstairs to a private room. He sat down on the plush sofa and waited for others to come. The room itself was tastefully decorated; it had another identical couch on the opposite side from him with a reclining chair positioned in between both couches but to his left out of the way. A large coffee table sat in the middle of the room between the seats. A few paintings were positioned on the walls; each was flanked with a pair of small tables with vases resting on them. Tactfully none of the painting appeared to be animated and watching him. Harry also noticed that with the way the couches were positioned there was plenty of room for people to walk behind them. His guess proved correct when five men walked into the room, four where big burly, obviously bodyguard, types. The fifth was a man in his early thirties Harry guessed. By the finely tailored suit he was wearing with a matching robe instead of a jacket, Harry figured he was a mid level boss. Getting back to the story the boss took a seat across from Harry with two of his men sitting next to him, the other two took positions behind the couch Harry sat at on either side of him.

"Good day Mr. Darracun," The man began in slightly accented Czech, he must have gotten his name from the hostess. "I would love to speak with you regarding any business you have but first I'm going to have to ask you to remove the weapons you carry." The bodyguards next to him reached inside their robes, to keep their hands on their wands no doubt.

"Of course Mr…" Harry replied in the same language hoping to pry a name out of his host.

"Weapons first." Harry held up his hands in a non-threatening manner, after all if he transformed he doubted any of them would be able to stand against him.

"Of course." He held his host's gaze until the man nodded, then Harry flicked his wrists drawing each of his wands before the other man realized what had happened. Harry reversed them and placed them on the table before the bodyguards were able to draw their weapons. He did notice that the man across from him had his wand trained on him only a micro second slower than Harry had pulled his own. Harry then reached into his robes and deposited the two daggers he was carrying next to the wands. As Harry sat back the guards visibly relaxed, but the leader didn't move until a scanning device had moved over Harry and come back clean, then with a flick of his wrist his wand disappeared.

"Odd that someone like yourself would need so many guards, especially when you're a superior draw to them." The man across from him smiled.

"Speed isn't everything Mr. Darracun. Besides the façade of power can be much more useful than power itself. Forgive my poor manners; after all we've never met yet you know a codeword rarely given out. We had to be sure you were not an Auror. I'm Pietro Maximoff." Pieto offered his hand and Harry took it.

"I could be still."

"True but you have no weapons or recording devices. If you are an Auror you are a crooked one or a soon to be dead one, either way doesn't concern me. So Mr. Darracun what exactly do you need my help with?"

"Well as you might have guessed Dimitri Darracun doesn't exist. I need a paper trail saying he does. I already have a muggle ID, but I need one from the magical world that will stand up to inspection should anyone run a background check." Pietro starred at the painting above Harry for a few seconds, his face a mask of concentration.

"You do realize that magical documents are linked to your blood and your magical signature do you not?" Harry nodded.

"So you understand that if anyone actually checked your records they would show the true you, they cannot be faked." Harry hadn't realized that but remained silent, he sensed a but.

"But if someone were to maintain the spells on the forgeries after they were created they could be used to fool an official inquiry. Now that would require an inside presence to watch over your new files. That will cost you."

"As long as my true identity is not revealed money is no object." Seeing the greedy glint in Pietro's eyes Harry added. "That doesn't mean I'm willing to pay arm and a leg, perhaps a foot." Pietro didn't laugh but the corners of his mouth twitched into a smile before he controlled himself, the man would make a Slytherin proud. Pietro turned to the man on his left and spoke to him rapidly in a language that Harry didn't know, it sounded like a dialect that Romanian gypsies used but he couldn't make out the syntax. The man nodded then left the room.

"I believe that we can properly give you a new identity. But before all of that payment, 20,000 galleons upfront." Harry resisted the urge to flinch at the ridiculous figure.

"I'll pay 2,000 upfront and another five at completion."

"Come now do you seek to rob me? I couldn't go bellow 18,000."

"Seeing as how this service is worth only five thousand I think I'm being generous."

"This is Prague and in Prague you will pay 18,000 or you will not get what you want. But seeing as how I think you are a special customer I'll cut the fee to five up front and ten upon completion." A subtle legilimency scan showed Harry that while he was paying an almost five hundred percent increase this was as low as the man would go. He pulled back before the man noticed that he was being scanned. Harry hadn't probed but could sense powerful, if simple occulmency barriers. Harry put a sour face on.

"Deal." Smirking Pietro activated something he was holding and the fourth man returned carrying a small box. Opening the box the bodyguard who had bought it in placed Harry's weapons inside it and deposited a vial of some potion on the table. Harry raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"First you hand over the first payment, then I'll explain what is next." The other man closed but didn't seal the box that now contained Harry's weapons and placed it on the far side of the table. Harry removed his wallet and pulled out one of his Gringotts bank drafts, they had been an unasked but welcome surprise. Harry had wanted to pay cash but that wouldn't be, they had asked for more than could fit in his enchanted moneybag at once. Hell to pay this he'd have to empty it several times. Pietro expression darkened at the sight of the bank drafts but he made no move to stop Harry from filling it out. After the bank draft had passed hands Pietro gestured to the vial.

"Care to enlighten me to what that does?"

"This…" He picked up the crystal vial and shook it a little, the watery lime green liquid sloshed around as best it could. "…Is a memory marker. Rather than perform a breakable obliviate at the end of our transaction you instead drink this. The person you will work with will take the same potion, when we are done both of you drink the second phase potion and you leave here having a new identity but not knowing enough to find our man. Likewise your secrets are safe with our guy." Harry nodded slowly, he didn't like it but as he was promising more funds for the completion of this project, now was not the time to poison him, right? He picked up the vial and downed it in one gulp, the potion was smooth but still tasted like every other potion he'd ever had. Horrible, still Harry held back his gag reflex. The stuff was probably expensive. Pietro watched him for a moment more and then nodded to one of his guards. The large burley man stood and gestured to Harry to follow him. After seeing Pietro waving at him to go Harry gave one last look at the box holding his weapons and then followed the other man out and down the hall. He passed two security checkpoints as he walked deeper into the complex. At each one the guard showed his ID and Harry was subject to a weapons scan, the last one included a frisking. Finally, after making more turns than Harry was even counting, the guard stopped before a non-descript door and pulled it open.

"This way Sir. I will be outside when you are done." Harry nodded to the guard and walked inside.

A/N:> Extra bonus points for anyone who points out where my guy'sname comes from. :A/N>


	6. Cloaks and Daggers

A/N First of props to those who spotted Quicksilver. A few people have mentioned Ginny and her involvement. I plan on doing something with her that I have never seen before so you can understand if I'm just a little tight lipped about it. For those of you who don't like her, she won't be around again for a couple of chapters but she does have an important role latter on. A/N

Chapter 5

Cloaks and Daggers 

The room he entered looked like a small apartment, a cozy living room with a hallway leading off to the left and several closed doors to the right. An archway separated a dinning room from the living room he was in now. Not having anything better to do Harry took a seat on one of the couches and admired the vase on the end table.

"Do you like the vase?" Harry turned and regarded the newcomer, he was an older man. Mid sixty's perhaps, it was hard to tell when magic was involved. He originally had brown hair, kind of what Remus had called salt and pepper colored, but now it was streaked with gray. He was wearing a simple suit bottom, a starched shirt and a vest that didn't match. He appeared out of place within the opulent room. While his face showed a slightly amused smile his steely eyes regarded Harry with a hidden cunning that told him that this man was not to be underestimated. The man was carrying a briefcase in one hand and a small vial in the other. As the man walked forward he downed the potion inside, Harry thought he recognized it as the same potion he'd drunk only a few minutes before.

"It's from the Ming dynasty. I always forget what year it's from, but no matter. You didn't come here to hear a doddering old man's tales did you?" The man placed his case down on the table and opened it, while giving Harry a disarming smile. Harry didn't return it.

"You should relax sonny, the whole point of the memory potions is that neither of us will remember this conversation. Anyway I didn't introduce my self. Gregory Zirlienski, and who do you want to be?"

"Excuse me?"

"My specialty is forging documents, people don't come to me unless they want to create new identities. Who are you?"

"Dimitri Darracun."

"Did you just pull that name out of your ass or do you already have some documentation?" Harry handed him the forged muggle ID.

"I've recently moved from around here, so now I need a magical record to back it up."

"I can do that. It's complicated but doable." He pulled an odd looking device from his briefcase and handed Harry a hollow tube about the size of one of his fingers with a wire connecting back to the device.

"Just place you finger in that… No use your index finger, it will fit." Harry did as he was instructed and felt the sharp prick that meant his blood was being taken. Although this time it was accompanied by a humming sensation that he hadn't felt before. The machine appeared to be a printer of some sort because it spit out a sheet of paper that was shimmering under the layered effects of magic. After the machine was done the paper returned to normal and a birth certificate appeared, his. Not Dirmitri's but Harry's.

"What's the meaning of this?" Harry grabbed the man by the collar, only to feel the point of a pen that the man was pressing to his neck. The way he held it Harry was certain it was a wand in disguise.

"No need to get aggressive Mr." He looked at the paper. "Potter. Aren't you glad that neither of us will remember this when we're done." As Harry relaxed his grip and sat back down Gregory sat back and put his pen wand away. He picked up the sheet and browsed it, presently he looked up frowning.

"You've done something to permanently muddle your magical signature." It wasn't a question. Harry merely nodded.

"Well that actually makes my job a little easier. Since these files can't really be faked we have to have an inside man renewing the concealment and befuddlement charms on our doctored files. But since your magical signature has changed we can give your new identity this magical signature and then not have to worry about discovery unless someone approaches your records with a blood sample." He once again removed his wand and began to mutter several charms in a dialect that Harry didn't know.

"So tell me about this Dimitri. When's he born, how old is he, who are his parents? You know, everything that would be in a person's magical file, schooling, criminal record, etcetera."

Harry spent the next hour with Gregory, hammering out the details of Dimitri's life. When the finished Dimitri was twenty-six, and had graduated in the middle of his class from Drumstang. He had worked with the local crime syndicates as an enforcer for a few years until he had been caught by aurors. He had testified against his former bosses in exchange for a lighter sentence and now that he was out he'd left the country to avoid his old acquaintances that were more than slightly upset with him. Harry chose an Ex-con as his new persona because it would not only explain any darker spells he knew but would also detract suspicion about him possibly being the boy-who-lived. After all there was no way the golden boy would hide as a former criminal, right?

"There you go Mr. Potter." Gregory pushed a pair of file folders across to Harry. "Give the top one with the ministry seal to Mr. Maximoff, the other is for you to keep. Harry picked up the documents and headed for the door. Before he left he watched the man pull out another vial of something and down it. The man's face took on a blank expression like someone who had been obliviated before Harry closed the door. The guard outside said nothing but led him back to the room he had started in. Harry handed the guard the files Gregory had given him and sat, a few minutes later Pietro came in, again with the case. Harry paid the second installment of the fee and was given his weapons and a vial of the same potion he saw Gregory drink.

"I'm supposed to drink this?"

"Of course, we guard the names of our master spell crafters quite jealously." Seeing the bodyguards closing in Harry picked up the vial and tossed it back. The stuff tasted strangely sweet, well sweet for a potion. Then his world dissolved into colorful mist.

"Mr. Darracun?" The man in the suit and robe, Pietro was standing over him… But that didn't make much sense he'd just met the man and… he'd taken that potion they'd offered him.

"What did you do to me?" Harry stood, only partially wary of the way the bodyguards moved for their weapons.

"Nothing you didn't agree to. Here." Pietro held out a folder to him, when he took it he found the documentation that would make him legally Dimitri Darracun. "It was a pleasure doing business with you Mr. Darracun. Should you ever need anything please don't be hesitant to come back. Boris will show you out." Boris gestured for Harry to follow so with a quick farewell Harry followed the man back into the restaurant portion of the complex and out the front door. It wasn't until he was outside that Harry noticed that the ceiling of the underground. When he had gone inside the ceiling was charmed to give a disperse glow, now it was dark with projections that resembled stars. Night had come to Daliborka road. Harry wished he'd bought a watch earlier.

_Well I am in a shopping mall of epic proportions that comes alive at night, no time like the present_.

Snapping out of his trance Harry headed down the street, the ritzy shops around here might just have something good. The first shop he entered sold accessories but the only watches they had were either covered in gold and gems, or looked far to effeminate for him to be caught dead in. The second shop though was a literal jackpot. The store was smaller than the last and down one level but Harry was certain that he'd find what he needed here. 'The Temporal Connection' had the air of an antique clock shop mixed with a much more modern muggle establishment. Harry was certain that the place had muting charms over all the various wall and grandfather clocks on display. You could hear the slight ticking but it looked like it should be louder. Harry passed clocks that told time, told the phases of the moon. He saw clocks with hands like the Weasely's clock that told location and reminded the owner of their schedule. There were a few sundials, moon dials and something that must track the planets and stars motions he guessed. The watches were all under the glass at the counter, again Harry saw all sorts of styles, from the electronic devices that had been the trend with muggles last year to pocket watches.

"My I help you sir?" Harry looked up from the counter to an older man who had been previously sitting behind the counter.

"Yeah. I need a watch."

"This is for you or a gift?"

"For me." The man hopped off the high stool he had been sitting on, he was actually about a head shorter than Harry had first thought.

"Well I do most of my small jobs as customs anyway, so pick out a frame and then I'll get what features you want. All right?"

"Yeah." Harry looked back down to the watches, frames he now realized, while the man disappeared into the backroom. After looking at about ten models Harry decided on a silver watch with a metal wristband. It had four buttons on the edge of the face and what looked like a turn able device surrounding the face. Harry straightened up standing next his chosen frame and waited for the clerk to come back. He returned a minute latter with a book as thick as many of his old school books. The clerk sat it on the counter and turned it so that it faced Harry and opened it to the contents.

"So do you know what you want your watch to do, beyond tell time of course?"

"Well I want that frame." Harry pointed and the clerk nodded appreciatively. "But as far as features I don't know what you have to offer."

"Understandable. I'll start by showing you the packages; they don't take half as long to create as the fully custom ones. We have the homemaker option." Harry shook his head before hearing what it did. "The outdoorsman…" When Harry didn't say anything the clerk elaborated. "The outdoorsman has a built in wand element that can cast two types of light charms, a cutting charm and a simple incendiary charm. The watch also has a compass, and a height meter." Harry could already cast those spells wandlessly and a compass was nice but not needed. He shook his head.

"Alright, well there's the Alchemist's model, the Auror's model..." Harry perked up at this. "The Auror's model contains a tracking device and can log and track not only the device but also the locations of up to ten other Auror model watches. Each watch in the group can also be used as a short range communicator." While that watch was certainly neat and useful in groups he wouldn't need it, so he motioned the man to keep going. "There's the techno version, that's real popular among students. Has a futuristic digital face, an arithmacy calculator, and can record several minutes of sound. It also has a miniature wizardling wireless connection…" He stopped after seeing Harry's disinterest.

"Perhaps you would be interested in the espionage model?" Seeing Harry's renewed interest he flipped the book to the proper page. "Mind you it's just a name, as far as I know I've never actually sold one of these to a spy, but they're still useful. The primary charm is a variation of the tracking device on the Auror model that alerts the wearer when people are paying attention to them, it comes with a display that can show up to ten potential threats and their locations relative to you. Don't activate it when you are the center of attention or you'll overload it. The second feature is a notice me not charm that extends to cover the wearer, this charm is limited to only five minutes of operation before it has to recharge. The final feature is a portkey hub. You can create up to five different portkeys in the watch and switch between them with a command phrase. You'll have to create the actual portkeys yourself though." Harry read the information besides the package in the book.

"I like it. But the frame I want has four buttons, can I have an extra ability added?"

"Of course, it will only take time. Do you have any ideas about what you would like your forth ability to be?" When Harry shook his head the clerk pulled out an order form and began to write down the specifics.

Harry scanned the pages, there was an air toxicity scanner, an alarm. That might be a good idea, but he didn't see the need of one. He saw stopwatches, lunar cycle charts, even potion instructions. Still none of the options seemed particular useful.

_I wonder? The store's name was Temporal something or other._

"Sir." The clerk looked up from the half completed form.

"Did you decide yet?"

"Actually I had a completely unrelated question. Do you sell time tuners?"

"Those are not only very dangerous but very, very illegal. Of course not, but I do sell temporal distortion generators, they aren't illegal. Just expensive."

"What do they do?"

"Well when activated they speed up time in the area inside the generators bounds. The only model I sell doubles time inside, so say a person can get a good nights sleep in four to five hours." The clerks smiled, he knew when he'd made a sale.

"Can you include one of those in the watch?"

"Well the device itself is too large to include but the activator can fit on the watch."

"I'll take it."

"I assume you want the normal charms on your watch right, unbreakable, waterproof…"

"Yes, can you include anti-summoning charms as well?"

"Those aren't generally part of the anti-theft package but yes. Considering your paranoia would you like a notice me not charm on the watch as well?" Harry nodded.

"Its not paranoia if they really are out to get you."

"Which is why I run a nice shop and try not to make enemies. Your total is eighty-seven galleons without the time distortion generator. Including that your total is… 560 galleons. Your order will be done in twenty-four hours, considering the cost I'll need a ten percent deposit. And I'll need a name to keep it under.

"Darracun." Harry paid the man and left to look around the rest of the shops before they all closed and the clubs opened. He hadn't planed on it but it did appear that he would be staying the night in Prague.

In a curio shop two doors down he brought an older model scrying mirror. It was supposed to be able to help a person 'see' anywhere that wasn't warded. Harry didn't know how to make it work but it certainly looked cool, Neri on the other hand probably knew how to make it work. He also picked up several detectors that could be tuned to wards. They might prove useful for a project he planed on working on as soon as he was free. By this time the ceiling showed only stars and the streetlamps were lit. It was around eight when Harry checked into a local inn and left his purchases in his room. After changing into an outfit he had brought between the curio shop and the inn he went back out, this time looking for something to do, at least until two or so when the time zone change would make him feel like it was late enough to sleep. He was now wearing a pair of black jeans and a silk shirt.

Harry wandered into a club on the highest level; the place was dark with black and red backgrounds. Strobe lights, punk rock music from a local band and fog machines permeated the air. Sitting at the bar Harry ordered a drink and sat back to people watch he though the term was called. A woman in fishnets, black lipstick and violet hair turned to face him from where she was sitting.

"Aren't you a bold one. Most humans steer clear of this place." She looked across the room to where an elevator door opened and several obviously drunk tourists, muggles from the look, stumbled out. Each one was quickly split up by a group of men and women that appeared to have been waiting for them. Harry watched for a bit longer when he noticed one of the newcomers sagging against the person she was dancing with. As the couple spun Harry could make out a line of blood dripping down her neck.

Harry let out a small burst of magic and noticed the returns as the energy bounced off various people and came back to him. It was a form of legilimency that allowed you to spot people and he knew that people without occulmecy barriers came back differently. Sure enough much of the population of the bar had natural occulmency shields. Not the kind that you could train yourself with but the kind that a turned vampire would have. Harry turned to look at the woman next to him. Her violet eyes watched him closely for any sign of fear he guessed. Harry shrugged.

"There was no private entry sign on the door so no one should care right? After all you're not exactly a vampire yourself." She showed a sign of being upset, but only for a second before she smiled. Her violet eyes sparkled as one of the strobes flashed by them.

"I'm a lot closer than you are, my name's Cassandra. You are?"

"Just Dimitri."

"Well what brings you to the Ravager just Dimitri." She took a sip of her drink, while she didn't seem to be a vampire her drink was most certainly blood.

"Just a night out before I left heading west. After all they're all such prudes past, say Amsterdam." The two feel into a routine of flirting over the next half an hour. Harry was certain that she knew he wasn't really interested in her, after he had turned down two invitations to come with her downstairs. Cassandra didn't seem to care and just wanted company. As the night progressed a different crowd came in. These people came with the muggles who filtered in before being feed on and let lose with modified memories of a drug spree of some sort. These groups were obviously vampires but seemed to have little class and on average were younger and much more vicious than the ones that had been here when Harry came in. One in particular looking to all the world like a biker, save the tattoos and the muscle and the coolness came up to where he was seated.

"What have we got here, a mighty uppity wizard? Come all the way in here on a dare. Or maybe your just an idiot muggle?" The vampire leered, while Harry mentally evaluated the aggressor. His thoughts weren't nearly as shielded as the others, which implied that he was weaker than the others.

"He's with me Vladski, just lay off him." Cassandra spoke up. Harry who would admit had had one drink to many wasn't the least bit scared of this drunk vampire. When Vladski rounded on Cassandra Harry deduced that while she may be a regular she wasn't very well liked.

"Shut your mouth filthy 'pyr.' If you know what's good for you you'll just back off and leave me in peace. Before I have to do something fun to you." The drunks leer just increased. Cassandra shuddered slightly, at this point Harry decided to step in just as Vladski bared his fangs and made a grab for Cassandra. He stopped and blinked before he realized that Harry had grabbed his hand, on his own he couldn't match the vampire's strength but by pumping his magic into his grab he easily held the man away. The vampire wrenched his arm away and sneered.

"A lowly human dares to touch me!" Perhaps it was the noise of his shout or what it implied but Harry suddenly found all eyes on him. Cassandra looked at him with pleading eyes.

'_Please drop it. It's not worth it_.' She sent telepathically.

'_No can do, he was going to blacken upon your honor_.' He sent back. Actually he only sent it because it sounded like the thing a knight in shinning amour would do. Mainly he just planed on kicking this creep's ass because he had been in a bad mood since Gringotts yesterday and wanted to hurt someone. The asshole vampire would do just fine. Her eyes widened and even without having to send it he knew she was thinking that he was insane.

"Lowly would imply that you are somehow better than scum wouldn't it?" Harry asked the completely livid vampire, all the while readying his mental defenses and preparing to transform. More and more vampires and the completely lost, and to high to care, muggles were gathering around waiting for the fight that was coming up. For his part Vladski got even madder, he was snarling and starting to froth at the mouth with rage. When he spoke spittle flew from his mouth.

"I challenge you to a duel of blood!" The crowd instantly surged and Harry felt an alien magic fall around him dampening his abilities and preventing him from transforming. The crowd pressed in and pushed the two towards the elevator. Cassandra moved up next to him so he could hear her over the vampires who appeared to be placing bets on how fast the human died.

"Do you have a death wish Dimtri?" She hissed.

"Not really, mind telling me what's going on, something dampening my magic."

"You were challenged to a duel of blood. Both of you are powerless until he decides on the formal terms of the duel."

"Don't both parties generally have a say in duels?"

"Not when you insult a member of a ruling family inside their own coven." She hissed. Harry gulped.

"You could have mentioned that before hand." He bit out. The group was pushing into the lifts, which had expanded to fit the fifty or so vampires and muggles that surrounded him. When the doors opened they were moving out into a large chamber. The place was an arena with a sand covered center and stone benches all around. Before he was separated by the crowd Cassandra wished him luck and took a seat with the others that kept coming in. Apparently word had spread because more people than had been in the bar were filling the benches when Harry was pushed into the ring and the door closed behind him. A jumbo-tron like device on the wall to his left was displaying the odds. They had one and a half to one odds that he would die in the first thirty seconds of the fight. Vladski walked into the ring from the other side he was grinning from ear to ear and licking his lips in anticipation. A robed older man rose from his seat on the right. The arena instantly quieted as he raised his hands above him. Harry could feel the magic pouring off of him.

"A duel of blood had been justly called." The elder turned to Vladski.

"What are your terms?" The vampire grinned with his fangs fully elongated.

"No wands. Duel to the death." The crowd broke into exited whispers but quieted as the elder turned to Harry.

"In accordance with the regulations of a duel of blood your life is forfeit if you break any tenants." Harry felt the alien magic lifting off him.

Great if I run the magic of this duel will kill me, can't let him live either.

"Does the challenger have anything to say?" Harry glanced at the board, which was now showing a close up view of himself.

"Yeah. Can I bet on myself?" The scattered laughter and the lack of a response from the elder led him to believe it to be a no.

The elder raised his hands again and them let them drop. There was sound like a gong and Vladski began to run at him, the vampire was fast closing the thirty feet gap between them in seconds. Some people laughed as Harry stood still and closed his eyes, they expected he was waiting for death. When Vladski was five feet away his eyes flashed open. On the wide screen the close up showed his eyes completely black. Then he disappeared in a flash of black mist. Vladski stopped short, and wasn't ready when Harry reappeared behind him, elbowing the vampire in the shoulder blades. As the overbalanced vampire went flying the crowd jumped up screaming in appreciation, what they had expected to be a quick bloodbath looked like it would be a true fight. Some people who had obviously bet big on Harry dieing in mere seconds were booing. Vladski leapt to his feet snarling and charged. This time Harry moved in levitating himself just off the ground, the result was that he was just as fast as the enraged vampire. With a flash of flame Vladski vanished and Harry sensing the attack teleported to the side.

The battle became running fight of teleportation and quick strikes. Harry who was avoiding using some of his more obvious dementor powers and the full extent of his wandless magic was at a disadvantage and after the seventh teleport exchange was bleeding from his left arm. Vladski had taken more hits but the vampire looked no worse for the wear save a busted lip. Vladski raised both of his hands at Harry and slashed his wrist with those sharp claws of his. With a motion of his hand he flung drops of blood at Harry, whatever magic he was using transformed them into fireballs and Harry threw up his hands creating a pale blue shield that caused the rapid fire balls to ricochet all over the place, before striking a deep red spectator shield surrounding the arena. Again Vladski blinked as he obviously expected Harry to not be able to defend himself wandlessly. Harry with his hands still raised flicked his wrist and unleashed a torrent of lightning at the stunned vampire.

Vladski shook out of his daze and disappeared with a bamf sound. He reappeared to Harry's left and struck out with his elbow. Harry still casting was caught by surprise and fell to the ground. Vladski took this opportunity to leap at Harry but met the full force of a windmill kick as Harry jumped back up. Leaping into the air Harry landed on top of the vampire and channeled his magic into the next strike. The sand in the arena flew up in a shockwave that traveled out from the impact zone. Harry jumped up and danced backward, dodging a kick from Vladski who was now holding his limp right arm, from where Harry had shattered the bone. Harry ignored the pain in his left arm as he deflected another kick and stuck the vampire with an open palmed strike. Vladski spun and pain arched from his arm where the vampire had sliced his arm with a hidden knife. Harry clutched his arm in pain trying to stem the blood flow. He felt light headed and swayed, realizing that the knife had been poisoned.

_Dirty bastard._

Apparently he wasn't the only one who thought that using a weapon was breaking the spirit off the rules. As Vladski stalked forward Harry could feel the poison shutting down his internal organs. While a dementor could fight even as it body died he wasn't completely a dementor and would have to wait until his body was dead to move again, not that he wanted to die at all mind you. Harry got his chance when Vladski grabbed him and sunk his fangs into Harry's neck. As he loss more and more blood he wondered why Vladski wasn't worried about the poison. Completely at a loss of what to do he remembered a conversation he'd had with Neri.

FLASHBACK

"While people call it the dementor's kiss you really don't need to actually kiss them to draw a soul out of someone's body. Its primarily a battle of wills."

"How exactly do I do it?" Harry asked.

"It's really instinctual, you just know." Harry shuddered he had wanted to know how so he could stop himself from doing that to anyone.

END FLASHBACK

Right now he though he could make an exception. Harry unleashed his aura to full force, the spectator shield frosted over as it absorbed the attack. The walls iced over and the sand began to freeze. Harry tilted his head and clamped down on Vladski's neck. While his teeth never broke the skin his bite was far worse. Vladski, who had been in the processes of draining the life out of him froze and stood still as his soul began to fight against Harry. Perhaps someone of unnatural strength of soul and unfailing character could fight back against the vortex of darkness. Vladski wasn't one of those people and his body slumped over as his soul left the shell. The crowd could no longer see through the spectator shield but when Harry stopped draining and rained in his aura the elder vanished the frost. Harry currently was bathing in the power he'd just drained and wasn't watching while the rest of the people took in Harry with a blood red aura swirling around him like an ugly storm. Flashes of black lighting could be seen in the cloud as it swirled closer and closer to Harry finally disappearing inside of his body. Harry was using the massive burst of energy he had just drained to clean the poison from his body and heal the many minor cuts and the two large cuts on his body. When that was completed he turned to the soulless husk that had been Vladski, an unspoken incendio sent the body up in flames. Felling the rising and singing magic he identified with the blood duel leaving he transformed back into his normal form, and promptly sunk to his knees. With out the magic he had been leaching from the very air he was completely spent. He had lost far too much blood.

Again the elder rose and the room silenced. The older vampire waved his hands in a complicated fashion, the spectator shield fell and the doors to the arena opened.

"The challenger has won." The elder turned around and walked off, shaking his head. Harry was able to pick up the words imbecile and son before he was drowned out by the cheer of those who had either bet heavily on Harry or just liked a good fight. At this point Harry passed out.

When Harry came to he was looking up a vaulted ceiling. The wood was a deep dark color and he could see oil lamps in the corner of his vision. Harry rolled his head he was in a large bed, at least king sized. The sheets were a mixture of silk and satin, both deep red with black lace. He groaned and tried to sit up, only to be pushed back down by a hand. Turning he realized that he was on the end of the bed. A woman in a French maid outfit was watching.

"That was quick, we expected you not to wake up until sometime next week. Wait here."

"Like I can do much else." Harry called after her as he set up and positioned himself against the pillows and the headboard. The room had a Slytherin feel to it. Harry wasn't exactly sure how the designer had managed with the blood red and black bed and furniture, but the carpet was the Slytherin shade of green with silver trim that continued up the walls. The room was large, even though it had no windows the amount of open space and the spacing of the furniture made the place seem open. The door the maid, or was it nurse, had exited clicked open and two people entered. The first he recognized as Cassandra, but without the make-up and skimpy clothing. Now she wore the conservative robes he associated with wizards. The other was the older vampire he'd assumed was an elder of some sort. Up close he was much more intimidating than Vladski had ever been. The man's features were definably aristocratic and pointed. His black hair was styled in light waves. But the feature which gave away his age was his deathly pale skin, and his eyes. They were a deep shade of indigo and had the knowledge of centuries in them. The way he carried himself was that of a king, or a warrior completely assured of his power. His robes where deep shades of black with blood red trim. The man's, or more than likely vampire's taste in fashion could rival Voldemort in its dourness.

"How long have I been out?" Harry asked without preamble while rubbing his head like he had a headache. Truthfully he was making sure that the illusion covering his scar was still in place. It was and he relaxed a bit.

"Seven hours. It's almost sunrise." Cassandra answered. The older man walked up to the bedside and sat, apparently on air until he conjured a chair as he was sitting down. Cassandra handed Harry a glass of deep red liquid before conjuring a chair of her own and sitting.

"Drink." Harry obeyed until he tasted what it was. Harry held the glass away and made a face.

"It's blood."

"Vlad turned you and you lost a lot of blood. This will get you on your feet the fastest."

Harry gulped at that announcement but took another sip of the blood. While it still tasted foul he felt less repulsed by it with each sip. When he had finished half of the glass he looked back at Cassandra and the older man.

"What do you mean by turned?"

"You were bitten by an attack meant to kill and you survived. You also managed to absorb some of his blood during the fight. While it is not enough to fully turn you, you are still part vampire. Additional blood will complete the transformation… relax the blood in the glass is from one of the muggles that was there." The older man who had been speaking stopped when he saw Harry eyeing the glass speculatively. The older vampire gave a slight bow.

"I am Barron Darovingi of clan Draconis. You've already met my daughter Cassandra and my son Vladski."

_Shit!_

"Shit!"

_Hell did I say that out loud?_

"It wouldn't matter I heard you say it twice." Darovingi answered.

"Oh. Look I'm sorry about your son…"

"You don't need to worry about that. In death my idiot boy did much more for the clan than he did during his entire life."

"Excuse me?" Harry was officially lost; most fathers cared when they lost a child.

"Vladski is responsible for your turning, you carry the blood no matter how faint of clan Draconis. He inadvertently made you his son by blood before he died. So I have lost a son that I have been ashamed of for the past twenty years and gained a highly powerful grandson." Darovingi smiled cryptically.

"Wait I never signed up for any of this."

"It doesn't matter, you are here and therefore bound by the magic of the clan. Drink, the faster you do the faster you'll recover. If you would keep drinking you'll be back on your feet by morning." Cassandra prompted.

"What exactly do you mean bound?" Harry questioned.

"She means that the magic of the clan will protect you and it will prevent you from either shaming the house or overtly striking down a member of the clan. As I can sense you plan on leaving here as soon as possible I think that you will find the magic of the clan will only help you overall." Harry took a long gulp of the glass.

"I still don't understand, why are you not mad at me."

"Vladski was the oldest _eligible_ vampeal and as such was fathers heir apparent." Cassandra answered bitterly. "With him gone father can name one of his younger turned children heir."

"If you would allow me to complete the transformation I would gladly name you heir." Darovingi added in.

"No thanks, that's ok." Darovingi stood, his chair disappeared the moment he wasn't touching it.

"Very well. I will come back to speak to you latter." With that the elder turned and left with the same fluidity and grace that he had entered with. Harry's gazed followed the elder vampire out of the room before settling on Cassandra. Without the white make up on her face looked actually more alive. Odd when vampire seemed to conjure a pasty faced and pale image. Her deep violet eyes were currently focused on him and shown a mixture of emotions. Anger seemed to be the most evident.

"What the hell where you thinking!" She demanded. Harry saw a blur and felt the sharp sting he associated with being slapped. "Did I ask you to stand up to him? You could have been killed."

"He was going to hurt you…"

"And you just jump up and save everyone you come across?" She practically screamed. Harry paused a moment thinking about his life.

"Well… yeah." That caught her short, she obviously hadn't planed on him answering that way.

"Oh…" Harry sighed.

"Look. I'm sorry I got involved. I just didn't want to see you hurt." She smiled.

"That's so sweet. Are you sure you're not single."

"Yeah. My girlfriend would do unspeakable things to me." Neri probably would after all, unspeakable things like sucking his soul out. Yep sleeping behind her back would be a bad idea. Not to mention that after you've felt the sting of betrayal you are less likely to inflict the same pain on others.

"You know. You are taking your turning far better than most do." Cassandra changed the subject. For his part Harry shrugged.

"I guess it hasn't sunken in yet or I just really don't care. Will I have to alter any of my daily routine?"

"Probably not, your only like one sixteenth vampire. Your sense, relaxes, speed and strength will increase a little. You will also find sunlight irritating, but nothing big. You have to be a full vampire before light becomes hazardous. Even then feeding offers protection from the sun, it just tiers you out faster. Speaking of which." She picked up his almost finished glass of blood. "Drink. You'll heal faster that way."

"OK. Ok." Harry finished the last of his cup and put it on the coaster at his bedside. Cassandra rose to leave.

"Dimitri. I just want to say thank you. For everything…"

"Cassandra!" She stopped and turned.

"Yes."

"I was hopping you could tell me why you sounded so bitter earlier."

"When?"

"When you told me about the oldest heir. Why aren't you considered an heir? Is it because you're a woman?"

"No."

"Well." He prodded. Cassandra sighed and took a seat.

"Blood is important to Vampires. Vladski's mother was a vampire as well so he got credence over me even though I was older. My mother was a fae, which makes me a vampyr. We're not considered full vampires by society. Kind of like your world's interest in purity of blood."

"Oh. Sorry for bringing it up."

"That's fine." Although it was clear that it wasn't. "I'll leave you to rest." With that the violet haired woman rose and left without a word. Harry sighed. He'd obviously hit a sore spot. Rolling over Harry tried to get back to sleep, vaguely wondering what would happen to his stuff should he miss the check out time in the inn.

When Harry awoke again he was alone. He rose from the bed feeling much better, well much better than someone who by all rights should be dead. It was only as Harry walked around that he noticed that he wasn't wearing what he had on last night. Blushing furiously when he noticed even his underwear was different Harry opened the nearest closet. His outfit from last night was hanging up, the damage done to it probably meant he'd never wear it again. No amount of cleaning charms would get all the blood out. Still it could be salvaged. Harry transfigured it into something unfortunately plain, yet wearable. Once dressed in his clothing Harry pocketed his wand and wallet, they had both been on the bedside table. Then he made his way out of the door he'd seen the others use earlier. As there where no windows he had no idea what time it was.

Harry ended up walking down two hallways before a maid, actually the same maid from earlier, stopped him. A quick conversation and she pointed him towards elder Darovingi, who wanted to see him before he left. Darovingi's office was on the twenty fifth floor. When he stepped on to the lift he realize he was on B7. Another odd thing was that all the floors between P2 and B4 were charmed invisible, but he could see them. All the floors bellow B4 were the same way except with a more powerful charm. As the lift rose it stopped at L and about ten people in suits boarded. They talked as the lift rose; ignoring Harry and ignoring the fact the lift had enlarged slightly to comfortable enclose them all. As they got off Harry got a look a modern office setting, when the doors opened to twenty-five Harry stepped out into what could only be a modern office. The receptionist, who no matter what she was wearing was obviously a witch, said that Mr. Darovingi was expecting him and pointed down the hall. Harry got a good look at the down town section of the city as he walked past the glass windows. Cassandra had been right, as long as the sun was out it was like looking directly into it, Harry was forced to squint. Especially since it looked no more than nine in the morning and the sun was still rising. When Harry entered Darovingi's office he was thankful for the sudden lapse of light. Darovingi had a corner office but he had metallic blinds that closed out the sunlight completely. A medieval style chandelier provided light, even though the candles had been replaced with bulbs. Bookcases and shelves covered the walls, some had little knickknacks that reminded him of Dumbledore's office. Save none of these things were so obviously magical. Darovingi sat behind a massive oak desk at the rear of the room.

"Ah good to see you up and about so early Mr. Potter." Harry drew his wand in an instant, though it was by instinct. His brain was still caught up in the word Potter.

"You can put away your wand Mr. Potter. If I meant you harm I would have done something earlier. Take a seat." He motioned to a chair by his desk. Harry dumbly obeyed and took several seconds to regain his voice.

"How?"

"Oh. That illusion of yours is very powerful. Most people even with my magical power wouldn't have been able to see through it. Your mistake was assuming _that no one could ssspeak the language you cassst it inssss." _

"You can speak Parseltounge?"

"Yes. Its one of those fun talents that makes for an excellent party trick, and complicated glamours I suppose." Darovingi sat up in his chair and rotated it to face Harry head on.

"I meant what I said earlier. It would be both an honor and a privilege if you were to formally join my clan."

"I'm sorry sir. But that really isn't possible at the moment. I have several things to take care of in England."

"You mean that nasty business regarding your fugitive statues?"

"That and that dark lord problem they are experiencing."

"That will be entertaining to watch. Who are you going to bribe for a pardon?"

"I didn't do it. I'm going to clear my name." The elder raised an eyebrow.

"Oh. Not that it matters in the long run, but what then? Wizards in the UK are quite close-minded. A vampire won't be welcomed."

"I don't know. But I have to do that first."

"Very well." Darovingi snapped his fingers and summoned a book from a bookshelf on the other end of the room. He checked the spine and then tossed it to Harry.

"These are notes on the unique powers of Clan Draconis, as well as a description of basic vampiric strengths and weakness. Look over this and please feel free to return here when you are finished with your quest. Floor B3 opens up to Daliborka road, have a nice journey, of course if anyone asked we've never met Mr. Potter. And don't lose that book." Harry rose from his seat and headed to the door, before stopping, there was one question he wanted to ask.

"Oh, just one more question. What exactly do you do here?" Harry gestured around him.

"Do you have to ask? I'm a lawyer of course."

Floor B3 opened up to an underground lobby whose glass doors opened into the morning rush of Daliborka road. Harry stepped out into the press of people and made his way back to the inn he had checked into but never slept in. After gathering his previous purchases and paying he went to the clock shop to pick up the watch. As promised the maker had the watch expertly done. Harry was still admiring the silver watch as he traveled to the nearest exit to the muggle world, it wouldn't do to activate the return portkey inside such a crowded and no doubt monitored area. The muggle side of Prague was just as busy in the morning, it took Harry half an hour to walk to a less crowded section by the river. Standing beneath the alcove of a bridge and the riverbank Harry activated the temporary wards needed to stop anyone from tracking him. Once that was done He spoke the activation word 'home' and with a tug behind his navel he was off.

Harry arrived back inside his warded home. He put his purchases down and collapsed on the couch, earning a startled hiss from Artimis.

"_I've been gone for a day and you haven't movedss_."

"_I've been digesssting_." She simply answered. "_What did you do anyway? You ssmell different but sstill look the sssame_?"

"_Thiss and that._" Harry paused for a moment. If Darovingi could see through his illisuion… "_Artimiss can you ssee a sscar on my headss?" _He lifted his bangs.

"_Yesss. Am I ssuppossed to not ssee itss_?"

"_No. Jusst checking ssomething. I'm going to go back out. Do you want me to get you anything, like a ssspecific place to sstay or more foods?" _

_So snakes and parseltounges can see through parsel glamours. Note to self don't use this against Voldemort._

"_I'm fine for now, but I like skunksss_."

"_Skunkss?"_

"_Yess. Nice juicy sckunkss_."

"_I'll remember that_." Harry rose from the couch and moved the few things he'd brought upstairs. The next part of his plan would require a bank account and a bum.

The bank account was easy, with his fake ID Dimitri Darracun had no problems opening an account and transferring a couple thousand galleons into it. Lovely exchange rates were at a five to one ratio today. His next stop required just a little more work, but not much. He found the seediest part of west London and rented an apartment from a landlord then he paid for three months in advance. The place was a dive but was just large enough to suit his purposes. He transfigured garbage the last users had left into ratty but serviceable furniture and created the illusion that someone lived in the two-bed one bath apartment. Walking outside it didn't take him long to be approached by a man dressed in rags.

"Spare some change?" The man had unkempt hair and smelled like he hadn't washed in a week.

"Actually I might be able to help you out even more, Mr…" The beggar shifted worried at what angle this guy was playing.

"Kenneth. What are going on about?"

"You got a place to stay Kenneth?"

"I already got enough of a place, you a cop or something?"

"Far from it. See I need a roommate. Someone who can live in my apartment over there." Harry pointed to the building to his left. "And tell anyone who comes looking that I'm not in."

"This is some set up right?"

"Not for you. Well do you want it? Three months prepaid water, electricity and shelter. All you got to do is cover for me."

"Police aren't going to bust the door down looking for you?"

"Possibly, but unlikely. Hey if your not interested just say so. I'm sure someone will want a place to stay."

"Wait. Now don't get all hasty. I didn't say that." Ten minutes latter the pair had moved all of Kenneth's things into the apartment. While they were moving Harry quietly placed a type of memory charm on Kenneth that would prevent any legilimency scans from reading any of his memories related to himself. True the spell had side effects but Harry was certain that Kenneth wouldn't mind casting at half strength.

"I don't plan on being around again. Remember if anyone is looking for Dimitri Darracun he's out most of the time. Oh and after three months if you want to stay you'll have to deal with the landlord. He looks like a right ass to me."

"Sure thanks." Kenneth was spreading out several years of accumulated rift raft on the floor. Harry nodded to him and left, Dimitri now had a place to stay and appeared to be a legitimate ex-con. Phase three of operation 'clear self' involved making himself known and unsuspected. Catching the real killers would be complicated, not to mention that Harry planned on killing them the moment he ever laid eyes on them again. He would need to gain access to ministry and muggle records. For that he needed a reason to hang around. As Harry walked down an alley towards a deserted place to apparate he heard a hoot and immediately raised his wand. An owl circled lower and dropped a letter in front of him before flying off. Harry preformed a battery on detection and concealment charms on both himself and the letter before picking it up. All the while wondering how an owl had penetrated his anti owl spells. No letter for Harry Potter should get through. Turning the letter over he chuckled when he realized both how the owl had found him and who the sender was, not that he was certain that he really wanted to read a letter from her, but then again she had sounded remorseful in the Leaky Cauldron. The letter had been addressed to '_The boy with green eyes like a pickled toad_.'

_Dear Harry,_

_I realize that you might not want to hear from me now, but I have wanted to talk to you for over a year. I don't believe you are capable of doing all the things that you were accused of. And even if you had done them I believe that we should have stood by you. I want to apologize for my family's behavior. I wanted to say something earlier but I wasn't allowed to speak to you. I also realize that you have no reason to forgive us. If I were in your position I would leave and never look back. I'd like to speak with you but that would be selfish of me and dangerous for you. The Order is looking for you as well as Tom's people. Please don't get caught. Again, I've needed to tell you this since last year. Sorry._

_Love, _

Ginny 

Harry folded up the letter and pocketed it, she did care. Either way nothing she could say would change his current course of action. Speaking to her at this stage of things was just too dangerous. Of course he would still see her sooner than she thought. With the sound of a gunshot the Good Samaritan that had helped a beggar out vanished from west London.

Harry reappeared at the apparation point in Knockturn alley. After transfiguring his clothing into simple brown work robes he walked up to the Dancing Dragon, a noisy pub with a much less savory clientele than say the Leaky Cauldron. Taking a deep breath he readied himself.

_Phase Three. Showtime_.


	7. Belly of the Bird

A/N Actually I was surprised less people said anything about the vampires. Just trust me when I say that they are not a convenient plot excuse to grant Harry even more powers. Unfortunately though this is the last of the chapters that I've already started on. I don't type very fast so you can expect these wonderful weekly updates to drop off. I haven't abandoned it. The story will simply take longer that's all. Now, on with the show. A/N

Chapter 6

The Belly of the Bird

The pub had the same eighteenth century atmosphere as the Leaky Cauldron. The primary difference was the state of repair. Where as the Leaky Cauldron looked like it was a deliberate throw back, the Dancing Dragon truly looked like it had been built over a hundred years ago and had been held together with spit and repairing charms. The air was smoky and acidic to his nostrils, this was really the first time he noticed that he could indeed smell better. Harry ordered a firewhisky from the bar and took a seat across from a man wearing a dark cloak. Hopefully the information he'd brought earlier was good.

"What do ya want?" Harry placed a pair of Galleons on the table but didn't take his hand off.

"I was told you're the guy to go to about work." Harry spoke with what would sound like an eastern European accent. The cloaked man regarded him for a moment before placing both his hands on the table where Harry could see them; his wand was still in his hand though.

"Perhaps, who told you?" Harry raised his hand off the coins and took a swig from his mug. By the time he out the mug down the money had vanished.

"McCullough said you knew who to talk to. I hope you aren't too expensive. I just moved and don't have that much extra."

"Not to much no. What can you do?"

"Anything that needs doing. But I'm more looking for a quick galleon, than a steady job." Harry placed another Galleon on the table and it too went the way of the others, straight into the man's pockets. Said man studied him for a little more before nodding.

"Tony at the Dead Man's Keg has been recruiting for a job of some sort. Guy named Fletcher is generally at Quality Cauldrons, he pays for all sorts of things. And…" He tapped his chin for a moment. Raincem, yeah that's his name. He's looking for wands, though you don't find him. Just ask around and he'll find you."

"Hmm. Mentioned that Dimitri is looking for any sort of job, risks make it all the better."

Harry placed five more galleons on the table and left, the man pocketed the money and watched Harry walk back to the bar. For the rest of the morning Harry repeated the procedure with about seven other information brokers. Some of them insisted on being completely cloak and dagger in their operation, like any aurors were watching. Others yours simply waved the galleons around and you got what you wanted. By about three o' clock he was certain that he'd managed to pick up a death eater tail and still hadn't run across Mundungass. He'd made a quiet inquiry around the cauldron dealer that Fletcher visited, as in quiet enough that only Fletcher would be aware that someone was looking for him. By around five the man he'd identified as the death eater tail, thank you watch, had joined in the game of poker he was losing small at while asking about work.

"You know, for someone so interested in a job you certainly attract a lot of attention, almost like a bad plant." The game quieted as the players listened for Harry's response to the man he was sure was a death eater.

"Sorry if I don't have much experience avoiding notice. I was the guy who broke your legs if you were late with a payment at my last job. Not exactly the quietest of jobs, if you know what I mean." The death eater nodded.

"To true. So you don't mind whose legs gets broke."

"As long as they aren't mine." This prompted a laugh from the table and they went back to the game. The death eater didn't laugh, the man had decent occulmancy barriers but after a few drinks Harry was certain the man believed him to be an undercover agent or an easy mark with plenty of cash and planed to remove him as soon as he left. When Harry lost next he threw down his cards, declared he was out and walked off to the bathrooms. The death eater rose but didn't follow him into the loo, just position himself where he could see.

When Harry entered he looked around to see if anyone else was in and when the door opened to admit another man Harry activated the notice-me-not function of the watch and left while the door was still open. The interesting thing about the watch was that while you could cast the same charm on yourself people who were looking for you could see through the charm. With the watch casting it was more like a ward, which would require a counter charm to see through. Sure enough the death eater paid him little attention and didn't follow when he left the bar.

The sun was already setting over the narrow bits of sky that snuck through the darkened corners of Knockturn alley. Harry turned off the charm and made another circuit of the bars, this time watching rather than making himself noticed. When he left around two in the morning he was certain that his name would had been spread around for people who would want to look into his story. Harry apparated to the slums of west London before muddling his signature and returning home.

Once there he took a shower and laid down on his bead, the addition of vampire blood hadn't required him to sleep more, if anything allowed him to go longer without sleep and work off blood instead. But he wasn't planning on sleeping, closing his eyes Harry transformed and entered the collective.

"How have you been?" Harry asked Neri after greeting her, he hadn't seen her in two days after all.

"How have I been?" Neri asked incuriously. She placed her hands on her hips. "Yesterday I find a new soul that none of my dementors kissed. Want to explain that one?"

"Well I was hoping to ask you how you had been first…"

"Out with it." So Harry relayed the story of his trip to Prague, minus the part he couldn't remember. Neri stopped and questioned him about his fight and Cassandra particularly.

"You do make the most interesting friends don't you."

"Also I don't do anything by half."

"True, when you feel the need to mess with something its got to be not at all or so royally they have to rename it."

"Hey. That's not fair. How was I supposed to know he was a heir, or prince, or… whatever he was." She smiled and wrapped her arms around him.

"True. So what's this about this vampyr with purple hair? Hm."

"I didn't do anything. I swear, I think. I was out for a few hours and someone changed my bloody clothing." This time she did laugh.

"Relax. I won't bite your head off or anything. Though I wonder…"

"Wonder what?"

"I wonder how much she likes group play." Harry's eyes widened when he finally understood the implications of what Neri was saying.

"Naughty girl."

"I won't tell if you won't." This time Harry laughed.

"Like any guy would ever tell."

"True." She kissed him before backing away. "I'm certain we can make time for fun latter on. Since you managed to drain the soul of someone I think its time for me to start teaching you the basics of soul magic."

"Really. Can we finish by morning?"

"No chance. To learn this type of magic you'll need quite a few live samples. I'm just going to start with theory. You won't be able to practice here."

"Alright. Shall we find a place to sit?" Harry gestured around, they were currently floating above the ecliptic of the galaxy like representation of the collective.

"Sure." Neri closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them they were in a small classroom. The holder of the memory was making out in the corner with her boyfriend. Harry stared only for a second before a snap of Nere's fingers brought him back to the front of the room, where Neri was perched on the teacher's desk.

"You have to teach me how to do that."

"Maybe one day. Ok soul magic. Magic dealing with the soul is quite a complex feat. At first I'll just show you the basics. Which would include removal and storage of souls, combination and splitting of multiple souls as well as re-integration of souls with living matter…" After about an hour of lecture Harry decided that soul magic was perhaps the most complicated form of magic in existence. The number of things you had to worry about while simple removing a soul was staggering. Well if you wanted to be able to return that soul to its body at some point that is. He could see why this type of magic had fallen out of favor; the potential for abuse was great. But at the same time the uses existed.

Healers had removed the souls of patients near death and held them while they repaired the body. Without worry about the soul leaving the dieing body you could heal wounds that were completely fatal. Minor necromancy afterwards could reanimate the body and then the soul could be restored with little problem. Necromancers had used soul magic to bind their souls to physical objects outside their bodies so that they could go through the various rituals that allowed them to commune with the dead. These rituals would have killed anyone else but with their souls acting like a puppet master from outside they became very tough to kill. Harry wondered if Voldemort had used something like that to prevent his own death. Neri also went into depth on how you could split and combine souls to produce pseudo-souls like the dementors were made from. By combining different souls you created a blank soul that you could essentially program, or by combining souls in a specific way you created the same channels with in that soul so any soul with the same channels would likely think the same. This type of programming could be done to an individual soul but it was much harder to do and impossible to reverse. Souls could also be bound to physical items; these ensouled items had their own set of attributes. Unlike the horocruxes that necromancers used these things could have a tangible impact on things around them. Rather than a vessel that was to be protected ensouled things could be used like any cursed or possessed item. Ensouling a weapon with its owner's soul, or a piece of it at least. Could allow it to think for itself. Depending on the extent of the charms and enchantments on the item and whether or not the soul had been forced onto the item, it could be a powerful benevolent and useful item or a spiteful cursed item. Of course if you used a programmed pseudo-soul the ensouled item could do whatever you wanted it to do.

When Harry said goodbye to Neri and left the collective it was seven in the morning. While Harry felt refreshed he didn't need to leave for what he planed today for a while so it was a good time to read, as well as test out the time device. After five minutes of skipping through the book Harry took out the eight crystals and placed them at the floor of the bed and at the ceiling directly over them. Sticking charms on the backs kept them in place. Once they were lined up he pressed the activator button on the watch. A message asking him if he was sure showed up on the face, touching yes he activated the device. The only obvious thing was the shimmer of a shield activating. But that was all that was supposed to happen, Harry took out the book on all the watches features and started to read. After half an hour Harry finished the book, it was mildly interesting and worth knowing. The temporal distortion charm could have nasty effects should anything pass trough it so the shield charm kept everything out. A separate charm kept the air inside from turning stale. If you touched the shield with anything the field would drop as a precaution. With the portkey hub Harry set the first portkey to this place with the activator word 'abode.'

As he hadn't brought any other books with him he dropped the time field and climbed out of bed to dress for the day. Harry still only had a few robes but that was ok. Today was another muggle day, at least for most of it. He would have to be extra careful as he was returning to the scene of the crime so to speak. When he found what he needed to clear himself he was planning on requesting a new trial. That way he could prove his innocence in the court of public opinion as well.

Harry dressed in a starched shirt and slacks. Once again feeding Artimis, he needed to find something for to eat besides mice they were like snacks to her, he apparated to Surrey.

Stopping a local cop to ask where their offices were he stunned the man and copied his identification. When the cop awoke he obliviated the man and sent him along his way. The surrey main police station had the feel of an office building. Harry walked right in and showed the guard his copied ID while casting a subtle confudus charm to make the guard believe he was from a higher division. Doing the same to several more people along the way Harry found himself in the case files department.

"Hi. I'm Detective Darracun from the Little Whining offices, you don't mind showing me the files for a multiple homicide last year." He told the man on duty.

"Sure, what's the case number?"

"That's just it my sarge didn't give me the case number, just the date and the place. June 22nd 1996 and number four Privet drive." Harry was using his legitimacy skills to ease any doubts the man had about him.

"Hold on." The guard turned to his console and started a search. "Here we go. Case 45-98-03, Vernon Duresley et al. Hold on while I go get it." The guard returned several minutes latter with a bulky case folder.

That's odd I didn't expect that much.

"I was under the impression that we didn't even have a suspect, if its already been solved I'm gona be real pissed about wasting a day going to get this."

"Well your in luck, strangest case really." He flipped through the files. "It's still unsolved but a few months ago another detective ran every un-followed lead into the ground and found with the new DNA testing procedures found a suspect that was involved in about five unsolved murders in the seventies. Sad thing is that we know who did it; we just don't know who that person is or where he lives. Its like he doesn't exist." Harry thanked the man and opened the folder, he didn't have clearance to remove the files but he was still going to make a copy and leave with that.

The man had been right they were thorough, they speculated that the murderer had set up the bodies and removed a forth victim. They had no idea that the ministry had fouled up their crime scene before they ever got there. DNA taken from Tonks had placed their ghost at the scene of the crime as well as someone who was most likely related to the ghost, Harry knew exactly who they meant. Then they had case file from unsolved murders all over England, everything from the Prewit brothers to various muggles that had been killed over the years. They had picked up Lucius' blood from the scene of battles and semen from the other raids. They had evidence that he had involved in the murders of at least fifty people.

_I wonder if he would have walked if the wizards had all of this evidence._

_Knowing Fudge probably._

Harry oblivated the man who watching him and made a copy of the folders while he was stunned. Hiding his copied folders away he returned the originals to the man and left. After the arours and the Order had mucked up the scene he was surprised that they still had been able to put together any case at all.

Harry ate lunch at a local fast food restaurant; sometimes there was something nostalgic about fish and chips you know. Afterwards he returned home only to change into his green robe and then it was back to Diagon alley. This time his target was the local library, he could have probably bought the books he wanted in Flourish and Bolts but that was unlikely, at least the caliber of books he needed. Harry spent the afternoon in the library researching all laws and precedents in as many legal proceedings as he could. He couldn't trust a solicitor so he needed to represent himself. That being said he wasn't going to trust the wizinmagot to play fair. After all that had gotten him where he was now. Amazingly the formal laws and procedures were quite lax and seemed to be based on English common law, from the eighteenth century. They had advanced so much since then but had not overhauled their laws. Most updates appeared to be in the form of rulings, by heads of the wizanmagot and by the appointed magistrates. Since then they had passed all these new laws but still expected their old and completely outdated legal system to keep up with the. Harry noted several cases of laws with completely conflicting purposes.

It was like the ministry hadn't been created to uphold society and instead had been built to stifle change. Most bureaucracy slowed change as a rule but the ministry of magic… well he knew he'd need at least another full week to read and absorb everything he would need for the trial. When Harry left the library five hours latter he stopped in Flourish and Bolts to see what they had on law, enough he guessed. He didn't really need the legal system for beginners but it would have to do. Harry brought the books and then headed into Knockturn. He hopped that he would be able to find Fletcher tonight, Voldemort would move soon he guessed and he wanted Fletcher in his confidence before then.

Harry was certain luck was on his side when one of the people he'd made inquires with pointed out Fletcher sitting in the back of the Dancing Dragon. As the man didn't come around often Harry was certain that he was here to speak to or at least observe Harry. Harry brought a round of drinks and joined a game of cards using the drinks as his admission price. He laughed at their crude jokes and obligingly lost on the large pots, all the while paying attention to the shrouded man in the corner who was watching him. After a few hours he managed to beat one of them in a fairly large hand and the others called it a night. Harry ended up alone at the table shuffling a stack of playing cards.

"You still up for a game?" The cloaked man that Harry was certain was Mungdumas sat down across from him.

"Sure." Harry called for drinks for both of them and shuffled the deck. As they played and as Harry lost, he was sure Dung was cheating, they talked about things that had been happening. After several drinks, and when Harry was certain that the thief's mental defenses were as weak as they were going to get, Harry struck. Maybe that's not the best description, as that sounds like Harry attacked him, which he didn't. What Harry did was finally bring up the reason he'd been looking for Fletcher while bringing his legilimecy powers to bear. Harry wasn't attempting to read the man's mind, as it was warded like a fort, but he was subtly influencing what he would be able to remember.

"Well you see." Harry began. "I'm rather new here and I need a place to pursue what I'm best at, or anything else that I can do that pays the rent."

"Well I may have a position for you. But that depends on what exactly you can do and who exactly you are."

"I was hoping you were the kind of employer who didn't ask questions, but then I've heard good things about you. All right. My full name is Dimitri Darracun. I'm 26 originally from Prague. I graduated from Dumstrang and got a job with the Baracnicka's. Everything was good for a while until a deal went bad, somebody died and we all got caught. I ratted out my boss for a lighter sentence, spent two years in prison and was just released. I thought that I wouldn't be welcomed in Prague anymore so I moved." All the while Harry was influencing Dung to believe that he was telling the truth and at the same time muddling the man's memories of tonight. To any other legilimecer it should just look like he was drunk. Which he was but not as drunk as his memory would be. They talked for several more hours while Harry convinced him that he was more or less reliable and useful, the fact that he kept losing was certainly helping. After Dung gave him a way to contact him Harry excused himself and left. With that part out of the way all he had to do know was wait until he had something useful to input. In the mean time he would concentrate on learning what he needed to know about law and get the evidence that Fudge had.

Harry spent part of the night with Neri, she had learned nothing, and the rest of the night under the time slowing field. He had moved the device to his desk and spent the night reading all the law books he had brought, as well as the various books that he'd picked up in the vaults that he hadn't already read.

Dimitri Darracun stepped out of the phone box lift at the entrance of the Ministry of Magic. His shoulder length blond hair brushed his forest green robe as he walked. Several determined strides carried him past the fountain of magical brethren, that had been repaired since the last timed he had seen it. He walked up to the security desk and after waiting in line for a minute handed his wand, the weak dragon heartstring one, he hadn't brought his good one today, to the guard. The guard glanced up at the man's badge; it gave him low level access said he was here to register with the magical wards and permits department. Once Dimitri stepped through the entry portal that scanned for weapons and extra wands his wand was returned to him and he was directed to the second floor down. Dimitri wondered why they just didn't say basement; this was an inverted building after all. There was nothing above ground. Dimitri boarded the crowded lift saying good morning to a few of the younger, and better-looking, ministry workers.

When he got off on the next floor it was easy to find the office he wanted, the place was more or less empty after all the ministry had just opened and people only needed permits for warding when they were building in muggle populated areas, something wizards tried to avoid doing if possible. Dimitri spoke to the attendant and received several forms and information packets, he then retreated to the couch in the lobby area to fill them out.

At least that's what the attendant saw. As soon as Dimitri sat down an invisible Harry Potter rose, turned to make sure his illusionary self was working and then teleported out of the door. The illusion was rather complex and would continue to read, if he was asked a question it would allow Harry to take mental control so he could shoo away the questioner. The illusion was foolproof as long as no one needed to touch him. Which was the reason he chose an office in a department that might be lucky to get a visitor a day. Invisible Harry re-boarded the lifts, using slight twitches of his aura to prevent people from wanting to stand in the corner. He exited on the fifth floor down, administration. He waited at the checkpoint for about twenty minutes watching how the people who were cleared for access got in. After he was certain of their actions he followed an intern in and danced around the guards as they scanned the intern for any hazardous substances and confiscated his wand. Harry had left his wand with the illusion so as to not set off any alarms, after all visitors were tracked in the ministry by their wands. Why else would they let you have them back after reaching security?

The interior of the administration wing was drastically different than the rest of the ministry. Where most of the ministry looked like a modern, if eccentric, office building the administration wing looked more like a palace. A new palace too, this was something that had been built in Fudge's tenure. Harry noticed that not every department head had their office in this wing. The department of magical law enforcement was the second most powerful position in the ministry and Ameila Bones did not have an office here. Harry noted that people who were loyal to Dumbldore like Arthur Weasley and Diggory Senior didn't have offices here even though they were department heads. Bones wasn't loyal to Dumbledore as far as Harry knew but she was an auror first and a politician second. Everyone who had offices here was a politician first and a public servant second, well third most of them were probably purebloods or death eaters second. Most of them probably were either loyal to Fudge or helped pay for his election Harry thought. Harry passed Luscius Mafloy's office and tensed, the title under the door read chief consultant. Harry peered inside the spacious office, it was empty so he kept going. It was worth returning to when he was actually going to steal these files the goblins had told him about. Today was a fact-finding mission. He was actually glad Mafloy Sr. hadn't been in, if he had Harry would have had to blow his mission so he could murder that man in a very public display.

As he got closer to the ministers office he passed Umbridge's office, when he looked in she was still there. Harry smirked but said nothing when he was that she still walked with a cane and started when Harry bumped into a file cabinet. He would have been sorely pissed if she had gotten off scott free for all the things she had done, not that it mattered he was certain that she would fall with Fudge.

At the minister's outer office he had to sneak past a much more detailed security checkpoint. In the end he simply set off the alarm while someone else was passing through and teleported past the checkpoint while they were busy shutting off the alarms. In the confusion no one noticed the magical spikes associated with teleportation. Rather than walk in the door at the end of the outer offices he instead reached out with his senses, his assumptions were correct. The minister's office was warded against anything they could think off, including one of the goblin made sentient wards. If he teleported through the wards it would not only notice him and set off an alarm it would reconfigure itself to block that type of movement. Harry would need to find out how long it would take the security system to respond to unknown factors before he attempted to break in, in the mean time he would do everything possible without setting off the sentient ward.

Following one of the various undersecretaries around he was able to get into a secure meeting room, it was currently empty but from what he had picked up the minister held meetings in here daily.

Harry was lucky after only ten minutes of waiting Fudge, Umbridge and several other Aurors, officials, and secretaries walked in. Harry recognized Percy and took to standing behind the pretentious red head. Once they were all seated around the oval shaped table Fudge called the meting to order and asked for reports. The Auror spoke up first giving an update of the number of currently active aurors, any progress they had made against Voldemort, not that they said his name mind you, and their progress in catching Harry Potter. Harry almost sniggered when the minister ranted about how Potter was trying to ruin him, escaping during an election year and all. Each of the undersecretaries and officials gave their reports, some were department heads while others were representatives of department heads that Fudge didn't trust. As each member spoke Harry preformed a minor scan of their thoughts, few had any substantial defenses but Harry couldn't risk alerting any of them that they were being spied on so he stuck to surface thoughts with all of them.

It was amazing how many different topics cause Fudge to think of a particular file cabinet in his private archives. Harry was certain that he'd find the files he wanted in that archive. When the meeting was over Harry snuck out as quietly as he had entered and made for the archives. Unfortunately for him the archives were directly behind the minister's offices and protected by the same warding system that was on Fudge's office. If Harry entered the range of that ward and he wasn't keyed in he would set off an alarm. If he used any magic the ward would adapt to counter it, most likely in a few seconds. He would have time for one spell maybe, that would have to be him teleporting out. Unless he could fool the system into thinking he was the minister he wasn't getting in. But copying someone else's magical signature was not an ability dementors or wizards possessed. No potion could do that either, even if he polyjuiced into Fudge the ward would pick up the signature of the potion. Something must be able to…

Harry stopped and smiled, yes that might just worked. Still smiling Harry snuck back out, getting out is easier than getting in, and returned to his illusion. Thanking the receptionist he told her that he wouldn't be purchasing a permit at this time and made his way out of the ministry.

Once outside Harry apparated immediately to his next destination, Hogsmead. The sleepy village was unchanged, save for several aurors that asked him for ID. They could find no fault though in his forged ID and his story of just being in the ministry. He was allowed to pass, Harry stopped in Scrivenshifts and brought a full supply of stationary and quills, but the stop at this little store was only a cover what his real purpose, which was quite dangerous. Once again going invisible he crept up to the shrieking shack and checked to see if there were any wards on the building. Finding none he couldn't bypass he entered and dropped into the tunnel leading to Hogwarts. While the wards of the ancient castle weren't by any means state of the art they had something going for them that no ward in the ministry had, power. These wards had been placed by some of the most powerful wizards to ever cross England and they had been maintained by a series of magically powerful headmasters, Dumbledore being just the last in a long line. Over time all the magic gained a sort of self-awareness. Not the kind that the sentient wards had but enough that if Hogwarts thought you meant it or its inhabitants harm you would have trouble. While Harry meant no harm that didn't mean that Dumbledore wouldn't be alerted. He would have to sneak in counting on the fact that Hogwarts couldn't be as secure as the ministry since it allowed so many to cross freely over its borders.

As Harry neared the wards he reached out with his aura, melding with the wards and filtering through. Convincing them that he was no threat, only here to speak to a resident. Harry was not sure if he succeeded but he was certain no alarm had gone off. Well no main alarm, Dumbledore might have a silent alarm, either way he would be quick. Harry disabled the whopping willow then sprinted across the grounds towards the greenhouses. He saw professor sprout in greenhouse three but snuck by, it wouldn't do to be seen. Harry found an empty classroom where he took a risk and stopped attempting to hide his aura from the castle, if Dumbledore was here he would know. He had no time to wait and see if this was the case.

"Dobby." He hissed, hoping his magical signature was close enough that the elf would sense him. He was certainly within range of house elves odd form of telepathy that allowed them to know when someone wanted something. Then he heard a pop and a crying figure that came up to his waist attached itself to his knees.

"Dobby is so worried when they take Harry Potter away. But now Harry Potter is back and Dobby is happy and…"

"Dobby." The elf looked up, his tennis ball sized green eyes met Harry's.

"Its good to see you too Dobby. But I'm not back, at least not yet."

"The great Harry Potter is not staying?"

"No I came to see you actually." At this the house elf burst into tears.

"Dobby is not worthy of such honor, the great Harry Potter came to see poor Dobby…"

"Dobby." Harry cut the elf off before he could begin to rant again.

"I have a question for you. And a job if you're interested."

"A Job! The great Harry Potter is offering lowly Dobby a job. Dobby is so grateful to the great Harry Potter. Dobby will do whatever the great Harry Potter asks." The elf was bouncing around. Harry knew the longer he stayed the greater his risk of discovery was so he had to make this quick.

"First the question…"

"Yes question. The great Harry Potter will ask Dobby a question and Dobby will answer, but what if Dobby gets its wrong? Then Dobby will iron ears, yes Dobby will do that…"

"Dobby!" Harry cut him off again; this was getting tiring, when did Dobby start talking to himself?

"My question is about what you did back in my second year…"

"Second year, second year. Dobby makes the buldgers hurt you." He shrieked and slammed his head against the floor twice before Harry caught him.

"Not that. When you levitated the pudding and set off the underage magic alarm, I need to know how that worked."

"That was simple. Alarms go off when Harry Potter cast magic so Dobby cast magic and made it look like Harry Potter cast magic. Oh Dobby is so sorry that Dobby got Harry Potter in trouble…" He tried to wrench away from Harry to hurt himself again.

"That's what I wanted to know. You can copy people's magic signatures then?"

"Of course all house elves can. How else would we be able to access the master's vaults to buy things for the masters? Well the goblins could make a special door for Dobby…"

"Dobby." Harry cut him off again as the elf began to answer his own question.

Is it just me or is he less all there than the last time I saw him? 

"So if I asked you to, could you fool a ward into thinking that I'm someone else?"

"Yes Harry Potter. But that would be bad and then Dobby would be bad and Dobby does not want to be bad."

"What if doing this helped me prove that I wasn't bad. Then I could come back for real and everyone would know."

"Dobby would help the great Harry Potter because the great Harry Potter is the great Harry Potter Sir." Dobby stopped and looked at him expectantly.

Dobby was defiantly sounding odd. When Dobby started to mutter to himself Harry made the connection, Kretcher.

"Dobby are you still a free elf?"

"Yes. Dobby is still free. Works for Hogwarts but if free, elves shun Dobby because Dobby is free and alone."

"What happened to Winky?" Dobby sniffed at the question.

"Winky didn't like being free, Winkey popped to bottom of lake and didn't come back up." Harry paused stunned; if his guess was correct Kretcher had been insane not because he spent so much time taking orders from Mrs. Black's old portrait but because his master was dead.

"Dobby." The elf was crying now. "What happens when an elf loses its master?"

"Elf goes slowly insane great Harry Potter sir."

"If being without a master is a bad thing why didn't you get a new master?"

"Dobby likes being free great Harry Potter sir. Besides no one would want a bad elf." He started to cry again. This was getting annoying.

"Dobby. What if I offered to be your master? Would you accept?"

"Of course Dobby has waited for four years for you to ask Harry Potter Sir." It was startling how fast he could go from depressed to joyous.

"Would you be my house elf Dobby?" Now the elf jumped up and down and hugged Harry again.

"Of course Dobby would be the great house elf of the great Harry Potter. Can we do boding ritual now…"

"Actually not now, or at least not here. I need to leave before Dumbledore notices me. Can you find me now?"

"Of course, Harry Potter's sound changed some but now that Dobby has seen you again Dobby can hear you from anywhere. All Harry Potter must do is Call and Dobby will be there, and headmaster Dumblydoor, Dobby will make sure he doesn't see you."

"Of course. Thank you Dobby. I'll call for you as soon as I get to my house." Dobby hugged Harry again before disappearing with a pop. Harry illusioned himself again and left, having to hide behind a suit of armor to avoid Fitch and McGrounall, who were patrolling just a little bit to suspiciously to be a coincidence.

Not surprisingly when Harry exited the shrieking shack he saw Remus sniffing around. Not giving the man time to catch his scent he teleported behind Scrivinshifts and calmly walked back to the apparation point. He smiled to the aurors on duty and left, making three hops to make sure he wasn't followed he finished inside his house. Walking out side he cast a few notice-me-not charms and made sure no one was around.

"Dobby." Pop. The elf once again tried to tackle him in a hug, Dobby really needed to stop that.

"The great Harry Potter has summoned Dobby. Dobby did not think the great Harry Potter would summon Dobby but he has. Dobby is so…"

"Dobby."

"Yes."

"Do you see the house right behind me?"

"What house behind the great Harry Potter?"

"The house that Harry Potter lives in is at number 1234, twenty Fifth Street." Behind them the house shimmered into view for Dobby to see.

"Dobby can see now Harry Potter sir."

"Good, well come on in." The eager elf followed him up the stairs and into the house. Once inside Harry sat down on one of the couches and turned to Dobby. He noted that Artimiss had finally moved, about five feet to the window.

"Ok Dobby what do I have to do to bring you into the family?" At this Dobby burst into tears.

"The great Harry Potter is so caring he would invite Dobby into to the family…"

"Dobby!"

"Yes Harry Potter Sir?"

"The bonding ritual." Harry really didn't want to get impatient with the elf but it was hard, his annoyances from before had seemingly magnified tenfold.

"The great Harry Potter must hold out hand and say 'I accept' when Dobby asks."

"Ok. Lets do this then." Harry held out the hand like Dobby instructed, Dobby drew his finger in a circle on the floor and a ring of light sprang up. He said several things in a language that Harry didn't understand, elfish perhaps, and sliced his palm with one of his nails. Reaching out he did the same to Harry's outstretched hand, knowing what was coming Harry didn't pull back. Dobby pressed his still bleeding palm to Harry's.

"…Dobby swears to always keep masters secrets and always do what master says. Does master Harry Potter accept Dobby's service?" Dobby stopped and looked up at Harry.

"Harry Potter accepts Dobby's service." There was a flash that woke the sleeping Artimiss up and threw Harry back slightly. Dobby was standing up taller now, his eyes burning with a fire that Harry hadn't seen in them before.

"Dobby forgot one thing master Harry Potter sir. Is Dobby allowed to keep socks?"

"Yes, you can keep your socks and wear whatever you want. As long as you call me Harry."

"Dobby… I will try Harry." Harry stood and clapped his hands together.

"Good. Right now I only have this residence to take of, I'll leave it in your capable hands. Now then about your ability to copy magical signatures…"

It was late, the ministry of magic was closed. The usually busy atrium was deserted even the guards post was empty. After all this floor was sealed, if anyone wanted to enter at this time of night they had to use one of the smaller night entrances that were for employees only. That made things all the more interesting when two cloaked figures appeared next to the fountain of magical brethren. The first figure seamed to fade in, like mist that had coalesced into a human figure. The second one was much shorter, only coming up to half the height of the taller one. This one had appeared with a quite pop. As their hoods were up any observers wouldn't have been able to know who exactly was here anyway. The two walked to the security station where they stopped, the smaller one raised its hands and waved them around in a particular pattern. When that one nodded both of them stepped through and entered the stairwell, heading down to the administrative level.

Once outside the now sealed administrative level the taller figure motioned to the shorter one before beginning to chant, his voice was low, obviously male. The words would make no sense to anyone watching, as they were spoken in hisses that only snakes could understand. The smaller one again lifted his hands and made several complicated gestures. Then the smaller one took a hold of the taller one and with a pop the two were thorough the barrier. Once inside the outer offices Harry Potter removed his hood, they were in. Dobby removed his hood as well and turned to his new master, silently asking for directions. Harry motioned towards the back, the minister's area, and the two set off careful to avoid any monitoring devices that might be installed.

"Dobby is sorry master. I can fool the wards into letting you in but they will only be fooled for long enough for you to get in, then they will sound the alarm." The diminutive house elf looked up at Harry who had his face screwed up in concentration.

"All right. Well then we'll breach these wards after I've had a chance to loot the auror offices' files. This will have wait for another night. Come on then. Harry grabbed Dobby and teleported them both outside the high security area. The wards in the administrative section would have picked up house elf activity.

The auror offices were still open, even this late at night. Thankfully the minister hadn't deemed them important enough to place the high level wards on them that he had in the administrative sections. Dobby was able to easily mask their magical signatures with someone's who was allowed in. Under cover of invisibly and scent masking illusions the two crept past the various cubicles of the aurors on duty and to the records room. Thankfully that room was empty, a simple push knocked over a water cooler and shifted focus away from the door long enough for it to admit to invisible figures. Riffling through the filing cabinets Harry went straight to the P's.

"Parker, Parkinson, Peterson… Ah Potter." Harry mumbled to himself as he pulled out his rather large folder. The folder was devoted to him, dead family members must be moved elsewhere he mussed. He skipped past the beginning, noting that there was far too much information on his childhood for someone who had never met another wizard for the first ten years of his life.

Harry removed the files involving his arrest, the trial and his interrogation. Those particular files were notably absent. A note said the files had been moved and left no mention of where or who did it. Harry copied all the files and replaced the originals; next he sifted through the Mafloy files, making copies of any evidence linking the senior bastard to any crimes that the muggles had traced him to as ghost. His final step was to check through the records section. While this was much less interesting than the case files Harry had to check. There might be a record of his interrogation somewhere outside of Fudge's office, if it was even there. Harry was halfway through when a tug on his sleeve alerted him that Dobby sensed one of the wizards that they were copying tying get in here. Nodding Harry replaced the files and teleported the two of them out of the building, it wouldn't do for the wards to record two of the same person at the same time and trigger an alarm.

After two sets of apparitions to make sure they weren't followed the odd pair appeared in Harry's living room. Dobby bowed and bade him goodnight, the elf had set up a bed of sorts in the basement. Harry still had some reading to do and went up to his room where he turned on the time slowing field and engrossed himself in the book given to him by the vampire elder. He was having an odd feeling that had been growing in strength all day, it was still just a nagging itch but it was there. Harry assumed that it was linked to his need for blood.

Harry was certain the book was somehow enchanted, as when ever he opened it up it was always on the same page and wouldn't turn until he read and understood what the book wanted him to know. Unremarkably it had opened up to the chapter on partial transformations and what type of powers and hindrances he might have. Harry could expect increases in speed, strength, and senses proportional to the percentage he'd been changed. He could also expect a direct inverse in the amount of sunlight he could stand. None of the vampiric magic's would be available to him until he completed the transformation, which wasn't even in the top hundred on his to do list. Thankfully he would need as little as a pint of blood a week and if he went without blood it wouldn't kill him, just weaken him. When transformed he didn't need to worry about blood at all he figured out. It was even possible that if he feed while he was transformed the extra blood would just be converted directly into magical energy, like it was when a full-blooded vampire gorged themselves.

Closing the book two hours latter Harry shut off the time dilatation field and went into the trancelike state he took on while entering the collective. Neri was floating above the ecliptic of the central most mass of souls. Harry rose up behind her and wrapped his spectral arms around her. Neri smiled and turned around.

"How have you been?"

"Busy."

"Well I have news as well."

"Voldemort?" She sighed.

"Yes. We are to attack the guards in two days. After we see the death eaters landing on the island."

"Can't talk you out of it can I?"

"No. But if the signal was never given it's not my problem." Harry smiled.

Two days. I can get help to stop the death eaters in two days, well I can't but Dimitri can.

"Thanks for the tip." She turned around to face him.

"I hope you don't think that was for free." She said as Harry moved closer and kissed her.

"Of course not, I'll have to come up with some form of payment." Neri let out a soft moan as Harry's lips brushed her collarbone.

"Yes I suppose you should…"

The next morning Harry awoke rested and satisfied, mentally at least. Today he had to make himself visible in Knockturn. For Dung and by association the Order to believe him he needed to be seen fishing for information. Another foray into the minister's private files was in order as well but that would have to wait until after this weekend. The next few days would make or break his cover. Harry dressed, after putting away the mismatched clothing that Dobby had taken the time to set out for him.

"Dobby."

"Yes master?" Harry thought about telling Dobby not to call him that but decided against it.

"You don't need to set out my clothing for me. Got it?"

"Yes master." Dobby began serving Harry the massive amount of food that he had cooked, Harry shook his head slightly. Dobby cooked like he was at Hogwarts, but Harry didn't need meals of these portions.

Harry spent the day in Knockturn alley, visiting the various bars and questionable shops scattered through the seedy district. While it was far from pleasant, his presence was needed to go with the story he had created. Not to mention finding a Death Eater or two to question would be very helpful.

It took until almost midnight until Harry was certain that he had found a Death Eater, he didn't know the man personally but the Davies spouted off the pureblooded mantra that Death Eaters preached when asked. Harry was currently following Davies to see a friend that could help Dimitri find work that would not only utilize his rather illegal skills but would allow him to "put them to use for the glory of the wizarding world." The alley itself was deserted, this late at night and in this industrial section of Diagon alley no one with any legal business was out and about.

The two stepped into a doorway almost completely hidden by an overhang. In fact until Harry was led inside he hadn't noticed the door at all, the wards must be powerful to affect him. A second man joined Davies and the two lead Harry down a hallway and into a smoke filled room. Harry immediately felt the presence of powerful masking charms. He looked around and could not see anything in the shadows; he could only see one person seated at the only table in the room but was certain that there were other people behind the masking charms. Harry sat down across from the cloaked figure; Davies and the other man took positions standing beside him.

Hmm. Haven't I been in this position before?

"So Dimitri," The man across from him drawled. "Why would a foreigner like yourself wish to serve the Dark Lord?"

"It's not about dark and light. It's about how much money I can make while, what did they say…" Dimitri tapped his chin for a second. "Right, it's about money and satisfying my 'propensity for violence.'" While Davies chuckled the man across from Dimitri did nothing but you could hear the sneer in his reply.

"My master has no need of brutes with no sense of direction. My master wants the best the brightest, the future of the world to join him in his quest. We need soldiers not enforcers."

"If your not hiring then I'll be on my way." Dimitri replied flippantly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"No. I did not say that. If you were to do something for me, a favor perhaps then I could be assured of your desires."

"Such as." The cloaked man made a motion and part of the dark room lit up to reveal a pair of Death Eaters; their wands focused on a muggle girl no older then eleven. She looked, well damaged was the only word that really described her appearance.

"If you wish to prove your loyalties to our glorious cause then kill the girl."

Harry rose without saying anything and drew his wand in a swift motion. Should he do it? Part of him protested violently, but that part was a quiet voice and he thought it should have been louder. Another part of him, and a louder part of him, didn't care one way or another. He had saved others from lesser problems for no reward to himself. Could he simply kill the girl before him? A loud part of him said yes and that disturbed him far more than the silence of his conscience.

_But then what can I do? If I kill the others in here not only will I not necessarily save the girl but I'll blow any chance of Dimitri ever fitting in around here. Not to mention the chance that I could through the entire timetable for Voldemort's next assault._

_Life of the one versus the lives of others down the road, what will it be?_

"_Tötung_!" This particular curse could be blocked but the end result was just a deadly as the Avada Kedarva. A black jet of light jumped from his wand and connected with the glassy eyed girl starring blankly at him. As the black cloud the curse caused on impact dissipated her lifeless body fell to the ground. Harry heard the congratulations of the others, like he had passed some important test, internally he felt empty and slightly sick.

_I'm changing. Harry Potter could have never have killed anyone in cold blood, not even after Azkaban._

Harry might not be able to but Dimitri does this kind of thing for a living. A sly voice reminded him. Harry shook off his guilt and stored it, he'd worry latter. Now several of the Death Eaters, convinced he was no spy for the ministry or Dumbledore were leading him away and into a lounge where ten or so men were holding an impromptu party. A pair of slightly older girls that looked disturbingly similar to the one he'd just killed were being passed around among the men.

Much latter that night a thoroughly disgusted Harry Potter left the Death Eater safe house, he had gotten what he had wanted but he wondered about the cost. He now had a medallion that would allow them to contact him latter, he'd be able to use this to get to their superiors and hopefully find more information about Voldemort's whereabouts. Unfortunately he truly wondered was the cost of those girl's lives worth the information he might receive.

"You seem upset." Neri stated as she saw Harry appear in the collective latter that night.

"Upset! I just killed an innocent girl and I didn't care! No matter what I say to myself I don't feel remorse. OF COURSE I SEEM UPSET!" Neri drew back started by his outburst.

"I don't see what the problem is, I'm sure her death served a purpose." That was the wrong thing to say as Harry, who had been pacing and ranting to himself, rounded on her.

"You don't see a problem? This is your fault! I was never like this before. What did you do to me?" He shouted.

"What did I do to you! You don't blame the vampires or the betrayals but me!" Harry, now finally coming to his senses tried to apologize but Neri cut him off. "Maybe I did do something. I saved your sorry hide, I gave you the power of a minor demon, of course there would be side effects!"

"Neri. Wait I didn't mean…"

"GET OUT!" With what Harry could describe as a mental shove Harry found himself hurled backwards, when the spinning sensation stopped he found himself back within his own body. He tried to re-enter the collective but found the entrance sealed to him.

"What did I just do?" Harry moaned to himself. Neri's anger had calmed him down and he wondered if she would ever even allow him to apologize. While he was disturbed of what she had admitted he couldn't deny that he had crossed a line and now felt guilty over it. It was worse than guilt, if she never allowed him to renter the collective he could never even say he was sorry and despite what he had just said he really did care for her.

A frustrated Harry paced back and forth between number ten and fourteen Grimauld place. He had not managed to speak to Neri at all today, he sincerely hoped that she would calm down enough to listen to his apology. Still her information had said that Voldemort would finally attack Azkaban under the cover of darkness tonight. Not only would stopping this attack be a tactical victory over the Death Eaters it was going to give him the leverage he needed to avoid suspicion and get into the Order of the Phoenix. Well it would if anyone ever looked outside the fidelused house and noticed him pacing.

Five minutes later his salvation arrived, sort of. Severus Snape was in a hurry, he had just been alerted to free up his scedual and start brewing. That was the order he got before a major conflict, hell he hadn't been given that order in sixteen years, but he still remembered the New Years massacre that followed it. He had to get Dumbledore to pull his resources of the Potter brat and put the Order on full alert, something big was going down tonight. So imagine his surprise when he was stopped just before he went into headquarters by a man he had never seen asking if he was part of the Order of the Phoenix. Of course he immediately pulled his wand on the unknown man and demanded to know where he heard that.

"Well Dung told me there was a house or something around here." He waved his arms around for effect.

"Wait you mean Mundugmas?" The man nodded.

"Look just tell Dung that Dimitri is outside and has useful information." Severus looked the stranger over, medium build, bond hair, and a distinctive Slavic accent.

"What is this about?" Sevurus demanded.

"Unless your willing to cough up my finders fee that is between me and Dung." Severus resisted the urge to curse this man and pondered his options. He could just leave him outside and fetch Dung, but that would allow the man to run off and compromise him. He could just oblivate him but then any information he had would be lost. He could also bring him inside and let Dumbledore hash it all out but that would bring a potential threat into headquarters. Deciding he grabbed the man by the arm and pulled him by wand point up the stairs that he couldn't see.

"Hey what the fuck is your…" Dimitri's protests cut off when they stepped over the threshold and the fidelus charm allowed him to see around.

"That was neat. Uh where to now?" Severus jabbed the man in the back with his wand and gestured him to walk forward. As they entered the parlor Dimitri stiffened just perceptibly at the site of Ron Hermione and Ginny.

"Hey Dung said this was supposed to be some sort of secret organization, not a damn baby sitting service." Ron scowled and Hermione opened her mouth to respond but Severus cut them off.

"They are just the brats of some of the members who don't have the financial resources to properly care for them." He said silkily, oh he was starting to like this guy. Hermione could be heard saying something else but the two were past and into the dinning room with its multiple silencing charms before she could get started.

The only people in the kitchen at the moment where Moody and Fletcher. Moody, quite predictably drew his wand at the stranger and Snape. Dimitri ignored both of them and made for Fletcher.

"Dung! Lot of security here don't you think?" Dung for his part looked like he'd just been caught filching the silverware, which at some point in time he probably had.

"Darracun what the bloody hell are you doing here?"

"You said emergency, well what I got for you is certainly an emergency." By this point Moody had realized the man was here about information and had hobbled over to the two.

"You've got something to say. Well out with it then." Moody still hadn't put away his wand.

"Who are you? Wait doesn't matter I don't care. I just want my payment." As Dimitri and Dung haggled over the price of the information and how Dimitri knew where the place was, Moody backed away and Snape took up his customary place on a wall. After several minutes Dung tossed Dimitri a bag of gold, which he quickly pocketed.

"Alright spill what was so important that you had to barge in here to tell me?"

"Yes, I think we would all like to know that as well." Dung and Dimitri spun around, while they had been talking Dumbledore and the rest of the Order's executive council had found their way into the room and were clustering around the table. Dumbledore motioned for him to take a seat at the end of the table. Seeing as how Dumbledore's request wasn't a request but an order Dimitri took a seat and looked at the old man expectantly.

"First off could you please enlighten me as to how you found our residence?"

"Well Dung mentioned something about a place he could always be reached on Girmuald place and I just looked around until, uh… that guy in the back he never mentioned his name. Well he let me in."

"That man is Severus Snape." Dumbledore proceeded to introduce everyone else in the room.

"Alright I guess you want to know my name right?" At the few nodes he continued. "Dimitri Daracun at your service. Anyway, I was talking to this guy earlier today and he mentioned that he was going to participate in a battle that would change the course of this world. So I ask about it and he admits that after tonight the Dark Lord would truly begin his domination of the world." A few people muttered and gasped but the majority were silent. "So I prod a little more and he finally lets spill that there was going to be some sort of raid tonight on a secure installation. He gets all secretive and looks around before whispering Azkaban." Again more mutters and gasps. Didn't matter he knew from the look in their eyes that he had them.

"Do you have any other proof of your accusations?" Dumbledore asked mildly. This time Severus stepped up and answered for him.

"Yes. Earlier today I got the first call to arms order since the December massacre of 1980."

"Then we must prepare to reinforce the prison. Do you know where or when?"

"I only know tonight and that he was part of a team attacking something on the mainland, he said that the Dark Lord's allies on the island were going to deal with the guards." Again more gasps Dumbledore said Dementors. The order members scattered calling in additional forces and preparing for what would be a nasty fight. They seemingly ignored him in the confusion.

"Do you think you could use an extra wand?" Dumbledore turned to him, Moody he noticed had never taken his eye or his wand off of him.

"You would help us?"

"Well I've been looking to hire my services off all week but the Dark Lord is to secretive to hire mercenaries, what about you guys?"

"Would you be willing to help uphold the light?" Dumbledore asked?

"It has nothing to do with light or darkness. I'm good at hurting things and if I can get paid to do that all the better. I'm willing to swear any non-disclosure oaths you want." Dumbledore and Moody shared a glance that to Harry looked like a conversation. Dumbledore then nodded and began to enchant several objects that must be portkeys.

"Stay with me sonny. I don't trust you yet but we'll see." Moody clopped over to him and held out a sock that Dumbledore had passed to him.

"All right people activate on one, two. Three!" Dimitri and the rest of the Order members present vanished into a vortex of swirling light.


	8. First Blood Sort Of

A/N : Here it is chapter 7. I had planed to make this longer but the story has take a life of its own and this chapter needed to be split up before we get to the confrontation you so sorely want. Don't fear Harry will not be forgiving them anytime soon, even if he doesn't rip their heads off immediately. A/N

Extra note: This was finished two weeks ago but it took my beta that long to get to it.. Oh well that's what you get for mooching of a professional editor who just happens to be your mother. /Extra Note

Chapter 7

**First Blood… Sort of**

Azkaban Prison is set out on a little rock in the North Sea. The island of Azkaban is about a mile long and a little less than half a mile thick in the center. The majority of the barren island is taken up by the forbidding castle that serves as the prison. Wards prevent anyone from portkeying or apparating in or out up to two miles away. So really the only way to reach the island is by boat. A small outpost on the shore of the mainland controls the few boats designed to reach past the shallows around the island. That outpost had seven Aurors stationed there: seven Aurors that were currently hiding in what remained of their building, as close to forty Death Eaters surrounded and were in the process of demolishing the outpost.

Dimitri and the twenty two members of the Order of the Phoenix who could be found on short order portkeyed in on a hill about a quarter of a mile away from the battle. Dumbledore immediately began to give orders and the fighters spread out into a loose formation and moved in. Dimitri found himself with Moody and two other members he didn't know. When they got within one hundred feet reinforcements began to arrive. Unfortunately the Aurors apparated in right outside the remains of the outpost and directly into the kill zone of the Death Eaters.

"Idiots!" Dimitri cursed under his breath as the five remaining Aurors, out of the twelve who'd just arrived, took cover within the structure. Moody must have heard because he grunted. One of the Order members threw a stunner at maximum range and dropped a black robes Death Eater. Shame they couldn't have waited until everyone was in range. With a few shouts the Death Eaters in the area began to turn around, now appraised to the threat at their flanks.

"Moody, do you know the Sabadarin pincer?" Dimitri asked as the old Auror broke into his fastest sprint to close the distance.

"Yeah, I'll lead. On three." Moody pointed his wand at Dimitri and whispered copula acies. The mind linkage spell would allow them a limited amount of telepathy. All that was needed was a silent count. Moody took aim at a Death Eater and with the help of the link Dimitri aimed at the same man.

One

Two

Dimitri tensed in preparation.

"Stupefy!" Just Moody called out the first spell, Dimitri's cry of obex cumulo could be heard. Moody's stunner splashed harmlessly off of the shield the Death Eater raised but the barrier overload spell that followed less than half a second latter shattered the shield and dazed the Death Eater. He never even had time to move before Moody's second stunner caught him in the chest. Dimitri summoned the fallen man's wand and then the two of them repeated the trick on another Death Eater.

The third Death Eater wasn't caught unawares and dodged the first stunner rather than attempt to shield it. Moody dodged the flaming whip that the Death Eater used and returned fire with a bone-breaking curse. Thankful that the mind link spell was still giving him Moody's timing, Dimitri summoned the man's boots when he sidestepped the bone-breaker. The man fell over and Moody quickly stunned him. Dimitri grabbed the unconscious man with a levitation charm and banished him directly into another pair of Eaters who were dulling with the two who had been with Moody from earlier. Three Death Eaters moved up to take the fallen's place and let loose with a flurry of killing curses.

Dodging the first two Dimitri summoned Moody out of the way of a third.

"Deflagratio ferrbui!" The thin line of fire that issued from his wand actually caused one of the Death Eaters to laugh. One shielded against the thin whip that slashed the ground around them, the last one actually knew what the spell did and jumped to the side. He only made it half out of the way before five pillars of flame shot six feet in the air, incinerating the two who hadn't moved. The one that had gotten out had burned his leg and twisted to get a shot off.

"Rictusempra." Dimitri paused at the odd spell sent by the Death Eater, even as he dodged it.

"Accio mask." When the white mask flew off Dimitri was met with the pained, but still recognizable face of Severus Snape. Dimitri ran up to the man and fired a medical spell, which had the same coloration as a stunner.

"Hide over by that hill, you can portkey away with the rest of them." He told Snape before turning to Moody who had gotten back on his feet in the meantime and was hobbling as fast as he could toward where several Order members where facing off against a large number of Death Eaters. Following after Mad-eye he faced off against his first real opponent of the night. Moody, Arthur, Molly, and two other Order Members he didn't know and himself were up against seven Death Eaters. It would have been an equal fight save one Order member was face down in the grass and didn't appear to be breathing.

The extra Death Eater was gunning for Molly who appeared to be the weakest link in the fight. Luckily while the Weasley matron wasn't the best offensive dueler, she knew her defensive spells. The three conjured pieces of granite she was using to absorb their killing curses were a testament to that. While Moody traded spells with another black-robed figure, Arthur opened fire on another. While he was generally considered a harmless middle-aged man Arthur apparently had the training to cause quite a bit of damage. After the first volley his opponent was favoring their left shoulder. Meanwhile Dimitri fired a series of flesh eating and bone breaking curses to gauge his opponent. The Death Eater dodged the first two and shielded against the rest.

"Avada Kedarva! Concisio medullas! Crucio! Concoquo Coeo!" Jutting his wand forward Dimitri conjured a cylinder of rock that flew out of his wand, slamming into the killing curse and blowing shards all over his opponent. Immediately afterward he flicked his wand creating a simple protecto shield charm to absorb the bone-breaking curse. Spinning around he let the cruciatus fly by. A smaller area reflective shield bounced the blood-boiling curse back at its caster. When his attacker stopped to shield against his own blood-boiling curse Dimitri reacted with a flurry of light charms and jinxes.

"Cunfundo! Supplanto! Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Furnunculus! Petrificus Totalus! Impendia!" In between the small charms and jinxes that the Death Eater laughed at as he batted them aside Dimitri dropped several silent runes around the Death Eater.

"Avada Kedarva! Computresco Carnis! Cuspis Decaligo!" Again Dimitri dodged the killing curse, he ducked beneath the flesh-rotting curse and threw the man's aim off of the darkness lance. As he overshot Dimitri chanted Cychwyn Amgyffred. The runes lit up and light flew up around the man, his wand arm that had been sticking out of the field was cleanly burnt off. He screamed and fell back cradling his arm, right into the other part of the circular containment field. As his body fell to the ground Dimitri turned to the nearest Death Eater.

Arthur stunned his Death Eater and turned to help his wife. Dimitri winced when he saw what had happened to Arthur's opponent, one of his arms was broken in three places and his other was dislocated. Dimtri took advantage of an opening and banished the legs out from beneath one of the Death Eaters. At the same time a flash of green and the thump of a falling body identified another Order member falling. Spinning to the source Dimitri hit the distracted killer with a silent organ rupturing curse and moved to the last two standing of the original seven. The Order group had lost one and Molly was clutching a bleeding arm but everyone else was in good shape. Conjuring several steel needles Dimitri banished them at a Death Eater attempting to finish the injured woman. Due to the low light he never noticed the needles until seven of the three-inch things lodged themselves in his wrist. When he reared back screaming Arthur caught him with a stunner.

Dimitri left the still standing Death Eaters to the other Order members and headed over a small rise to where the rest of the Death Eaters were. Both Order members and Death Eaters had lined up and were standing watching their leaders square off. Harry felt like pounding his head against a wall as he watched Dumbledore and Voldemort circle each other, their fight was certainly not worth watching. A small twitch of his scar reminded him to raise his occullmency shields to their maximum. Even then he couldn't just curse Voldemort because the parsel tounge would see right through his glamour.

"You won't win Tom." Dumbledore's perfectly calm voice echoed across the now silent field.

"I was just going to kill you old man, but just for that I think I'll rip off your arm and beat you to death with it!" Voldemort snarled, and Harry took advantage of everyone's inattentiveness to cast a silent strangulation hex at one of the Death Eaters on the side. This time Dumbledore started the attack by swishing his wand forward. A bubble of water the size of a small car exited his wand and floated at Voldemort. Voldemort reacted the way he always did, with a killing curse. Of course he was very surprised when the curse flew through the bubble only to bounce off the interior membrane. Voldemort snarled at the smug smile on Dumbledore's face and brought his wand up in a slashing motion. The ground itself buckled as spikes grew from it in a line aimed straight towards Dumbledore and his bubble shield. Dumbledore flickered out of the way and began to chant. When the spikes pierced the bubble it popped, raining far more water than it should have along with one very angry killing curse. Everyone in the immediate area, Voldemort included, ducked as the killing curse rocketed away at a random angle. Rising, Voldemort snapped off a flurry of multi-colored curses. Dumbledore spun out of the way but not before an unknown curse burnt a Galleon sized hole in his robes. Finishing his chant, Dumbledore motioned with his wand and the ground itself sprung up and formed together into three humanoid shapes. Two of them charged at Voldemort with a speed that was surprising for their size.

Voldemort caught the first one with a massive explosion curse and flickered about ten feet to the right of the explosion. The other transfigured warrior overshot and had to turn around. With it out of the way Voldemort fired another volley of killing curses at Dumbledore. The old man's third earthen warrior blocked the first two before it ran out of body and Dumbledore was forced to throw himself to the ground to avoid the last three.

"Is that the best you can do old man?" He taunted as Dumbledore rose to his feet. Men as old as Dumbledore shouldn't dive to the side and not expect to get hurt.

"I'm not beaten by a long shot, Tom." Voldemort snarled, then, without turning around wandlessly banished the third warrior some fifty feet backwards into a tree. It did not get up. Dumbledore said nothing at the loss of his creation but flicked his wand and launched a whip like projection of water at Voldemort. The Dark Lord dodged the water whip but was caught unawares when Dumbledore electrified the whip and all the water the from the earlier bubble. Unfortunately even as the electricity snaked over Voldemort, setting small fires all over his robe, Voldemort made a sweeping gesture with his free hand and tripped Dumbledore. As the old mage was rising he ate a banishing charm and went bouncing backwards into several other Order members.

Dumbledore was currently unable to stand, caught in a tangle of limbs, while Voldemort leveled his wand at his old foe.

"And now old man, you die…"

"Avada Kedarva!" Voldemort started but then relaxed as the killing curse sailed by his head, missing by over a foot. Voldemort regarded the man who'd cast it and laughed.

"Is this the best your muggle loving fools can do Dumbledore?"

"I wasn't aiming for you oh great one. Avada Kedarva!" Again the curse missed the stationary Dark Lord by about a foot but this time he followed the curses path watched as one of the Death Eaters behind him fell to the ground, right next to one that must have been killed by the first curse. Voldemort squinted at the man who was taking potshots at his army and sneered. He was too far away to make out in this darkness but something was different about him. Voldemort snapped off several curses at the man and watched as his opponent conjured a barrier and dove behind it. The resulting explosion should have at least stunned him if not killed him, Voldemort mused. No matter. The prisoners were free. He had gotten what he had come for.

"Enough of this. Pull back my loyal Death Eaters. Moresmode!" With that Voldemort and all the conscious Death Eaters portkeyed away. From the ruins of the outpost the surviving Aurors who had been pinned down until now came rushing over. Everyone paused for a moment as a cold feeling swept over the field and watched as a huge cloud of Dementors passed over heading south. A few of the defenders cast their partonus but by the time the spectral animals were out the Dementors had passed. Dimitri sat up shaking the cobwebs out of his head and the dust of his robes.

As the Aurors began to round up the stunned and take account of the fallen, the Order of the Phoenix pulled back and prepared to portkey out. They may have saved the Aurors in the battle but they were technically a vigilante organization and it would be frowned upon if they hung around too long. Several people gave Dimitri looks of awe or terror as he stumbled over to the others and grabbed a portkey. That last curse had overloaded his shield and he was still a little shaky. Thankfully, Voldemort hadn't gotten close enough to recognize him and didn't bother to stay around for an easy kill. When they arrived back at headquarters the next hour passed in a blur. As Aurors and spies in the ministry returned they pieced together a picture of what happened. While everyone sported minor to moderate wounds, seven members had been portkeyed to Hogwarts or St. Mungos for life threatening injuries, another five had died. This was bad news, considering that only fifteen out of seventy the so Death Eaters had been captured and another thirteen had died. Dumbledore didn't mention that Dimitri had killed six of them. With over twenty Aurors dead and almost fifty prisoners released from Azkaban, tonight could only be seen as a resounding failure. If you didn't count Azkaban it was a numerical success but once you added in all the prisoners, who would most likely accept the dark mark by morning…

At one point Dimitri had tried to excuse himself but a grunt and a poke from Moody's wand prevented that. When the general meeting wound down and Snape finally returned, still wearing his burnt robes, the leaders of the Order went to a smaller meeting room. At Dumbledore's request and Moody's order Dimitri followed them.

"First of all, I feel that I must thank you, Mr. Daracun." Dumbledore began once they were all seated inside the smaller meeting room. "But may I ask why you had to resort to such deadly tactics?"

"What do you mean? My kill ratio was pretty unspectacular, less than eighty percent."

"We don't kill our opponents, Mr. Darracun."

"And you wonder why you aren't winning. You completely lost the element of surprise, we could have flanked and annihilated a good half their forces in the first volley with a few disillusionment charms, but no. Someone had to stun at maximum range and give away our position. Don't even get me started on that duel between you and that dark lord. Just because they stop attacking doesn't mean you should." A few had the shame to look guilty but most of them just looked on incredulously thinking how dare he berate the headmaster.

"Be that as it may you still haven't told me why you saw fit to kill those you faced."

"As you couldn't possibly have been watching me the whole fight, I assume you're talking about the two at the end." Dumbledore nodded in assent.

"Well I had been using silent spells that left no trail to take out the Death Eaters beforehand, but it seemed like a good idea to help you out as your people were standing there frozen and all."

"Nevertheless the unforgivables are very dark curses." Dumbledore berated.

"If you haven't noticed I'm a former enforcer for the Baracnickas. I am a dark wizard old man!"

"Show the headmaster some respect." McGroungal cut in.

"I'm not a student and never went to his school. Hell he's not even my boss, though I'm willing to change that. Are you willing to talk employment or not?" Dumbledore paused and looked pensive for a moment.

"After reviewing your actions tonight I am willing to offer you a position with the Order of the Phoenix…"

"How much is this position worth?" Dimitri cut him off.

"The Order of the Phoenix is an all-volunteer organization…"

"Well fighting's good and all but I need a job that pays rent and puts food on my table." Dumbledore grunted. He was clearly annoyed at being cut off.

"That said I'm sure some form of compensation could be arranged; that is if you were admitted to our organization. Our admission standards are quite strict."

"For one thing you'd have to remove that glamour your wearing." Moody added.

Inwardly Harry blanched, they weren't supposed to notice it. Outwardly he showed surprise but it was the incredulous jolt of someone who had just been told something that they knew was false. The others were slowly reaching for their wands.

"I'm not wearing a glamour!" Dimitri exclaimed. When Moody said something in the negative, the rest of the room leveled their wands at Dimitri. He drew his wand as well but rather than pointing at them he tapped himself and said rather clearly finite incantium.

"There, see, no glamour."

"It's not gone." Moody snapped back.

"Then you remove it." Dimitri challenged.

"Finite Incantium!" The ex-auror called out. The spell caught Dimitri in the chest, strong enough to rock the chair slightly, but had no effect. The parsel glamour Harry was using could only be removed by either using the parsel counter spell or by overpowering the spell. Dumbledore was the only one in the room who might be able to match the power Harry had put into the spell, but he doubted the old mage would go all out as Harry had when he cast the glamour.

"Moody, he looks exactly the same, your eye must be malfunctioning." Snape spoke up. Harry would have never thought that he would be happy to hear Snape speak, but he'd just been proven wrong.

"My eye doesn't malfunction, he's wearing a glamour!"

"Are you certain it's a glamour Alastor? I can see something but it's not very well defined." Dumbledore added. As Moody and Dumbledore started to argue over whether Dimitri was wearing a glamour or not, the rest of the people returned their wands to their holsters as the threat of a fight had passed.

"Dimitri? Dung said you were an ex-con right?" Kingsley asked him.

"Uh, yeah."

"Which prison were you paroled from?"

"Ostrava."

"Moody you're wrong." Kingsley mentioned to the room after a short pause. "They didn't do it when you were in the service but recently the Ministries of Eastern Europe started to tag all their ex-cons with complicated tracking charms. Their password protected so you wouldn't be able to remove it." At Kingsley's explanation the wind seemed to fall out of Moody's sails.

"Looks like a glamour to me." He humphed anyway.

"Gentlemen, we can research into that topic at another time. Now Dimitri there are several things that we require of joining members…"

In reality all they really needed was to perform a complicated secrecy charm that prevented Dimitri from speaking to anyone outside the Order about what he'd learned. In half an hour he was keyed into the wards surrounding headquarters with Orders to keep his ears and eyes open and return in two days. He was certain that was to give them enough time to pour over his records, or the fakes that Harry had paid heftily for. Harry returned to his home at three in the morning and collapsed into bed. It had been a long day and tomorrow wasn't likely to be any shorter.

* * *

The next morning saw Harry up bright and early, much to his displeasure. Unfortunately, he had a lot to do today and much of it was dependent on things he couldn't control, so waking with the sun was necessary. If he had been able to meditate this wouldn't have been a problem, but Neri was still blocking him. After a quick breakfast Harry, once again under the guise of Dimitri, apparated to Diagon Alley and visited Gringotts. 

"Good morning Mr. Potter, what can I do for you today?" Griphook greeted him once they were safely inside the goblin's office and Harry had removed the glamour.

"Several things. First off, my alter ego needs to set up an account. Can you do that or do I need to see someone else?"

"Yes, I can take care of that. Will you be transferring funds into his account?"

"No. That might be traced, I need a five hundred Galleon high interest, no-questions-asked-loan to cover his account. Can I pay for the whole amount now but leave the statements to show Dimitri still paying it off?" Griphook nodded.

"I assume that you want this backdated?"

"If you can to about a week ago, that would be great." Griphook nodded again and gathered several forms from one of his file cabinets.

"You'll need to sign here, here, here, and here. Oh and initial here, and here." When Harry had completed all the paperwork required to set up Dimitri's account, Griphook filed away all the papers and returned to his desk.

"You said you had other business with me, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes Griphook, I need to see everything you have on the Potter estate, as well as information on the lands surrounding the property." This time Griphook had to disappear for several minutes to find the information that Harry had requested. Harry took the time to walk around the Goblin's office and look at the knickknacks that Griphook had collected. There were a few certificates and awards. They were written in Gobbledygook. Even with the knowledge he'd gained, his vocabulary in that language was still limited to curse words. Understandably, he had no idea what they said. The shelves right behind Griphook's desk held the most interesting things: weapons. Some were finely polished and others were rusty and bloodstained. Harry was admiring a particularly nasty device that resembled a massive fishing hook attached to a chain when Griphook returned.

"Did you know that at a Goblin's coming of age our adult names are chosen for us by our peers. I got my name for that Muush Meklaan (1) and a particularly violent drinking game." Harry nodded and returned to his seat, that was one tale he really didn't need to hear. Griphook spread the maps out over his desk and pointed to the property line of the Potter estate.

"The castle is located in northern Scotland about 70 miles west of Cannich…"

"Wait a second, you said castle. You didn't mention a castle beforehand."

"Oh. It's right here; the manor was built around the keep of a castle. It's unknown if any of the original walls still remain, though. I can't tell you much more than that because the fidelius charms we use prevent us from sharing any information on the property than where it is. Geographically the property is on the shores of Lake Mhoicean in the Killian forest. You currently hold fifteen square miles that are warded off from the Scotland National Park Service and private corporate interests. Harry looked at the map for a minute before drawing a line on the map in a circle around the property he currently owned.

"I need all the property up to thirty miles in all directions. I need to be able to ward off at least twenty-two miles in all directions. Can you get those properties for me?"

"I can but it will be a lot extra. Real-estate really isn't my line of expertise."

"Just get it done as soon as possible and you can name you fee. I also need the fidelius and preservation charms dropped as soon as possible."

"Yes sir."

Exiting Gringotts, having to put up with another ministry checkpoint. Did they honestly think they were going to catch him that way? Harry apparated to his family's ancestral home. The wards that the goblins had placed up hadn't fallen yet and forced Harry to follow a logging road to the property's edge. There were no signs but he could feel the magic bleeding off the wards. There was no point in going further. The fidelius wards would prevent him from seeing anything until they were lowered, so he sat down cross-legged on the ground and tried, once again, to meditate and enter the collective.

After an hour of time spent trying to speak to Neri but being rebuffed by her, Harry opened his eyes. The fidelius charm had been dropped sometime while he was meditating, and an ancient gate was visible in the distance. That gate was of heavy wrought-iron construction with the Potter family crest in the center of it. The Potter family crest was a shield with a lion crouching in the center of it, a wand and a sword crossed above it and a rose bloomed in the background. When Harry placed his hand on the gate and pushed, the shield split in two as the gate opened for him. It was a short walk up a path before he crested the hill and got his first look at the Potter manor.

The manor had indeed been a castle originally. The stone tower of a keep could still be seen in the center of the house, but now the outer walls had been removed and two wings had been added on. Parts of stone work in the wings pointed out the exact part where the wings had been built through the walls. The central keep was five stories tall and the rest of the mansion was three stories. A few outbuildings could be seen around but the majority of the cleared grounds had been turned into a garden. While much of the property was natural woodland the grounds had been transformed into a garden, there was even a hedge maze. Of course, after almost a century of disuse the gardens had collapsed into a state of disrepair. Magic kept the low walls and walkways clean but the plants had grown out of their assigned places years ago. Harry continued his walk towards the great house of his ancestors. He passed a fountain out front that had been turned off and now just looked like an algae covered pool. The stones jutting from the water were as spotless as they had been when they had been carved but the water displayed a layer of gunk and pond growth that contrasted horribly with the fish carved in mid jump.

The front doors of the manor were large enough to allow five broad shouldered men through, if they walked side by side. The great wooden doors were creased with rot; magic or not, wood didn't do well untreated out in the elements for so long. With a grunt, Harry pushed the massive doors inward and stepped inside. The entrance hall had been a work of art, probably ran the whole length of the keep. Imported marble floors ran up to the stone walls that had been brightened up with frescos and tapestries. The few wall hangings that still remained were moth eaten and faded. Then again, they must have been pretty ugly in the first place or the last Potter who lived here would have taken them with them when they left. Age had left cracks and lines in the frescos and dust covered everything in sight.

"Dobby." Crack. The house elf showed up in a flash of light and displaced air.

"Yes, master Harry."

"Could you do something about the dust?" Dobby looked around and then nodded.

With a snap of his fingers, an area of floor of about ten feet square was cleaned and polished to its original hue. Harry continued onward past the columns that held up the great room, up a set of half stairs to the audience chamber and across a ratty red carpet to the throne room. The seat of the duchy or earldom of Potter was vacant, literally. Apparently the throne was one of the things that his ancestors had labeled worth taking when they moved out in the late eighteen hundreds. Wear marks on the old carpet showed where the great wooden chair had set. Harry conjured a simple wooden chair where the old throne had once sat and reclined in it.

"Welcome to my domain; be sure to grab a mop on your way in." He chuckled at his own joke. Then sighed at the absurdness of it. The house would need a complete overhaul before he or anyone else, for that matter, could live in it. Griphook had told him that all of the valuables that had been left here would probably be stored in time locked rooms nearer to the magical center of the castle. The ward stone of this place was probably in the cellar. Standing he alerted Dobby where he'd be going and advised him not to bother cleaning any more than the great hall.

Even after all these years the dungeons had a warm feeling to them. They had obviously never been used as prisons or torture chambers; some stains just don't come out. Here the magic practically flowed through the walls, as he got closer to the wardroom. Walking along the central hallway underground he caught glimpses of artwork and minor family heirlooms. Trinkets made from semi-precious metals that hadn't been stored inside the Gringotts vault. The wardroom was easy to spot; its massive stone door was etched with runes and inlaid with precious metals and gemstones. As he stepped closer to the entranceway it got harder to move, and when he finally placed his hand on the door there was a flash and the stones seemed to hum. When the humming reached a crescendo the light show stopped and the door shimmered like a liquid. Cautiously Harry reached out and touched the door again. This time his hand caused ripples where he had touched it. He pushed and his hand passed right through the door. Taking a deep breath Harry stepped through the portal and into the Potter family wardroom.

The ancient chamber he found himself in had existed before any of the other constructions he'd seen; there was a timeless feeling to the place. The walls were roughly hewn, as if cut from the rock itself. Alcoves cut into what must have started as a natural cave held rune stones the size of medium sized books. Each stone had a glowing symbol etched into it. Every one of the seventy or so rune stones pulsed in time with the massive crystal that was held in the center of the room. Harry could feel the magic lapping against him as it pulsed, like a giant's heart beat. The aquamarine monolith rotated in midair and seemed to stop and regard him. He could feel the magic pooling around him and judging him.

"Child of my children. Why have you come?" The voice echoed across the room, it seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.

"I plan to inhabit this property soon, I would like to reestablish the wards around the property." Harry tried to be as firm as he could but he didn't know whether to address the crystal or some other point of the room.

"Do you know how?" Another voice asked, now it was speaking in a Scottish dialect.

"No. I was never instructed." The smaller runes stone flared brighter briefly.

"Each of the outer runes is tied to a particular ward. Configure them using those stones and activate them all via the central controller." The voices fell silent and the pulsing returned to normal. When Harry walked to the closest stone and placed his hands on it, almost instantly he got a mental picture of what the stone did. It was linked to a ward that controlled the entrances to the grounds; it was one of about five that were currently active. Having no need to change the way this one worked he let go of it and moved on to the next one.

In all he completely disabled the anti-dementor wards and weakened the anti-dark creature wards. He kept the detection wards at full strength, though. Finishing with the ward stones he returned to the central crystal and placed his hands on it. Magic rushed away from him and into the crystal charging it like a massive capacitor. The stone flashed and pulsed brighter with each second that passed. Harry felt himself growing faint. The crystal then gave one massive pulse and threw Harry backwards with the force of the magic. The power of the wards spread outward past Harry, who was now sprawled on the floor, past the walls of the room and outward to the edges of the property. If the magic in the air had been thick before it was now like a choking, wet blanket, smothering his sense of magic completely. Standing, Harry shook his head and regained his balance by leaning on the wall. His reserves were near depleted but returning quickly. Transforming, he began to draw some of the power in the air to him and used that to strengthen himself.

Again Harry touched the portal and waited until the stone became a liquid before he stepped back through into the hallway. Light now filled the hallway from nonapparent light sources. When Harry reached the great hall he noticed that Dobby had cleaned about half of the space but had stopped and was currently scribbling runes into the floor in front of the empty spot, which once held the throne.

"What are you doing?"

"Master has reawakened the house's magic. Dobby was bonded to master's magic but now Dobby is bonded to the house's magic. All great families have house magic like this. When Dobby… When I am bonded to the house's magic my own powers grow exponentially." He finished the rune circle he had been carving and stood in the center.

"You like it when I refer to myself in first person, right master?"

"Uh yeah, when did you…" Harry was going to ask how he'd gotten smart but Dobby's chanting cut him off. The diminutive elf rose from the ground and raised his arms over his head. When he clapped his hands together a massive blast of light grew and spread out in a rippling wave. In the wake of the magic things changed, the carpet fixed itself, as did the faded wall paintings, and the ratty tapestries. Dust vanished and things began to shine like they were brand new. What was most amazing was things began to appear where they hadn't been before. Low tables, knickknacks and chairs appeared around the room. The missing throne reappeared in all its stuffy glory. The wave of light vanished through the walls but Dobby remained still for almost a minute. Then the runes faded away and Dobby dropped to the ground panting.

"Dobby what did you do?"

"Dobby has restored the manor as best as Dobby… I could. Many things were not stored in the manor so I could not return them to where they belonged."

The basement, all that stuff in the basement, that's what all the furniture is.

"Dobby will be unable to help master for a short time. Is that all right?"

"Yeah Dobby. You did great." The elf didn't get weepy like it normally did when complemented; instead it collapsed in a pile and fell asleep.

Harry walked out the front door to take in the changed manor. The massive garden had been affected too, well sort of. The walkways were clear of debris and weeds but the crakes in the stone remained. The plants were neatly trimmed inside their pots, except Dobby's magic had not eliminated the various weeds that didn't belong there. The fountain had been cleaned of pond scum and was now sprouting water, but the water plants that had taken up residence in the basin were still there. Of course Harry had been expecting to have to hire a contractor to return the manor to its original state. Now all it needed was a decorator. As he pondered this a disturbing thought crossed his mind.

What if this is Dobby's idea of good gardening?

Harry spent the rest of the afternoon wandering across the grounds. Mentally he mapped out the gardens and all the rooms in the manor. He counted three libraries, though all were empty; close to twenty bedrooms and he lost count of the number of parlors, or walk in closets, or any other rooms throughout the manor. As the sun started to set he sat in a chair in one of the two small dining rooms. The chair was old and wooden but that didn't stop him from tipping it back on its back two legs and balancing. Dobby had woken about half an hour ago and he had dismissed him to do whatever house elves do when they aren't being given orders.

Closing his eyes he relaxed and concentrated. As before he couldn't contact Neri, but this time he felt something. A presence. Harry's eyes shot open and he rose so quickly that he unbalanced the chair and sprawled himself on the ground. Crawling to his feet Harry resumed his concentration. He could feel her. He didn't know where yet, but she was around. Harry transformed and teleported outside the wards, all the while searching for her. After several minutes of looking Harry nodded and apparated to the south.

Overall he must have overshot his destination several times but half an hour later Harry stepped into a low grotto. The pair of dementors just inside the entrance moved to block him.

"Neri, I know you can hear me. Please let me talk to you. I'm sorry for what I said; if you would let me I'd like to apologize." The dementors made no move to get out of his way. Harry backed up slightly.

"I'm not going to walk away from you Neri. You've changed me and I don't want to turn my back on such an important part of me. I know what I said was wrong. Will you at least let me apologize to your face?" The two dementors parted and allowed Harry access to their den.

"Thank you. I promise you won't regret this."

"I had better not." A figure that had been standing behind one of the guards stepped up and led Harry towards the back of the cave. Neri had changed. Her appearance had taken on a gaunt, unfed look, and she had cut her hair to where it barely covered her ears, as opposed to trailing down to her butt.

"Follow me," was the only thing she said before turning and walking deeper into the cave. Harry followed, vaguely aware of the cave's size and the sheer number of Dementors that had gathered in the grotto.

"I gave you power, a place to belong, but how did you repay me? By accusing me of twisting you. Nothing that you have done were you not previously capable of. Why?"

"Neri, I'm… No that's not an answer. I was frightened by what I'd done, what I was capable of, and I lashed out. You didn't deserve any of it. I was acting like a child and as usual did only harm to those a care about."

"You hurt me."

"I didn't mean to."

"But you did, you're the first person that I've allowed myself to care about in three thousand years. The first I've spoken to in two hundred. I opened my heart to you." Harry sighed.

"I could say I'm sorry but what good would it do? I really do care about you. When I said I loved you I meant it, at least as much as I can, having never truly loved before. I want to make it up to you, I want to make it right, but I don't know how."

"Harry. Do you think I overreacted?" Harry paused. If this had happened with say, Cho, he would have said yes. But with Neri?

"No," he finally answered. "If we were normal humans then maybe. But you've never been human and I've never been normal. Loneliness does things to people, I know. Will you take me back? If not, will you at least speak to me, even if we have to completely start over? I would accept that as better than losing you forever." Neri brushed Harry's check with her hand before turning away.

"You would start over?"

"I was at fault, I'd do whatever you decided." He said

"I…. I don't want to start over, I want what we had."

"Then I'll try my best to not screw things up again." Neri had turned back to him. "I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven." She kissed him; it was a light chaste kiss at first. She pulled apart but after looking into his eyes mashed her lips into his. Her hands found themselves around him again.

"I've missed you." Harry's voice had a husky undertone that hinted at all sorts of things that should be done in private.

"So have I." There lips met again and no words were needed anymore.

A/N : (1) I generally don't list sites that I get information from but in this case Gobbledygook is not a recognized language so I feel the need to thank the guys at help. A/N


	9. The Dangers of Firewiskey

A/N : First off I'd like to apologize for being so late to post this. The chapter was ready back in August, right before my senior semester got started. But then my computer died. Long story short I lost almost a hundred pages of unpublished fan fiction and original fiction, including this chapter. I got started on re-writing this chapter right away and in a way I think that it's better than the original, even if it's shorter. I decided to cut the chapter as is so I could update before Christmas and I'll try to have the nest chapter up by the end of the year. I realize that most of you will have to go back and read the last chapter to remember what was happening, sorry about that. : A/N

Chapter 8

The dangers of Firewiskey

"We can't stay here." Neri commented on the cave that they were currently in, while it was certainly large enough to contain the hundreds of dementors that were part of the hive there weren't any sources of food, read civilization, anywhere nearby.

"What was the plan without me?" Harry asked as he pulled his robe back on.

"Voldemort offered us the souls of the muggles, but he made asummed that we'd take care of ourselves."

"Can I ask you not to drain the life out of the countryside?"

"My people need food." Was her reply.

"Well that's a no then?"

"I will give you no promises." The two of them stepped outside into the setting sun.

"Well I have a place not to far from here that's warded from discovery. You could stay there and branch out."

"You know most properties are warded against our kind."

"I've already taken care of that." Neri looked off over the ridge the sun had just disappeared behind.

"Very well." Neri turned back into the cave and let out a demonic shriek which was the dementor's spoken language. Neri had not seen fit to instruct Harry on how to speak it. Then each dementor that heard it shrieked as well and passed the message deep into the cave. Within minutes a horde of black cloaked creature rose from the caves mouth to hover above the valley floor. Transforming Harry joined them.

While they weren't really that fast over long distances they made a fair clip. When they encountered a muggle highway the group turned and followed the roadway over several towns on the way. At Harry's request they did not dive down and devastate the towns the dementors still slowed to a crawl over these towns, and villages. While the muggles couldn't see anything the amount of car crashes was a testament to the fact they noticed. By the time they reached the lands of the Potter estate the hive was quite well fed, for at least a few days anyway. As dementors didn't really need much in terms of living conditions Harry simply let them have free run of the place and told Dobby to leave the property, and the dementors alone. Neri ended up in the master bedroom, Harry had wanted her to come with him but she wanted to be sure her people were settled in first.

Returning home in the early hours of the morning Harry noticed several things. First and foremost was the scent of burning wood. He followed the scent to his dresser, or what was left of it. The pendant he had been given by the Death Eaters he'd contacted in Knockturn had gotten so hot that it had burnt a hole in the dresser. They either summoned him and grew irritated that he didn't come immediately or they knew about his involvement with the Order and the pendant was self destructing. Seeing as how the fire that had been his dresser had been smoldering for several hours now, thank Merlin for fire resistant floors, Harry decided that paying those Death Eaters a visit would be a dumb idea.

Even though it was late and he had quite a bit to accomplish tomorrow, the energy he'd siphoned off earlier in the night left him ready for more. His plan for fooling the Order would have to be prepared right before he left so he still had about seven hours to kill. First off Harry vanished the ruined dresser and removed the smoky smell form the house. He'd need more clothing but that was pretty low on his to do list at the moment.

Instead he pulled out the book that the Barron had given to him. While he didn't have the proper amount of vampiric blood flowing through him to accomplish the feats of blood magic the book talked about the information was still useful. Meshing it with the little he had learned about the subject from the collective Harry was able to piece together more about how exactly blood magic and specifically blood wards worked.

By the time the sun rose he was already into diagramming the ward structures that he planed to create latter on. Harry spent the morning with some of the heirlooms and other assorted junk that he had yet to clean before he began to work on his plan for the Order meeting he was to attend that evening.

Across the country Albus Dumbledore spent his morning preparing for the same meeting in a very different way. Albus was sitting at his desk in Hogwarts, seated in a semi-circle around him were his top lieutenants in the Order of the Phoenix.

"Kingsly. What have you found out?" The bald Auror stepped forward and handed copies of a file to everyone in the room.

"Dimitri Darracun was born in the former Chech-Republic, he graduated from Drumstang in 92. His official record lists no form of employment for the next couple of years until his arrest in 95 under organized crime laws. He testified against his bosses in exchange for a lesser sentence, spent two years in Ostrava's maximum security prison. He was released on good behavior about a month ago and has since immigrated to the U.K. This is all from the Chechen ministry, the Ministry of Magic can only confirm his immigrant statues with the muggles and that he was in the ministry a few days ago asking about ward permits. He's got a place in southwest London, a real dive. We couldn't get anything off of his roommate though." Kinglsy retook his seat.

"That's it?" Moody asked.

"Yeah, his entire record, well all the important parts."

"I don't like him." The grizzled Auror replied. "He's too much like his record."

"Moody do you ever listen to yourself; you can't be _too _much like your record." Snape interrupted.

"He could be Potter in disguise." Snape snorted.

"You saw how he fought, that is most defiantly not Potter."

"Like a Death Eater would know." Moody mumbled under his breath, but loud enough that everyone could hear. Snape started to rise but was cut off by Dumbledore's disappointed voice.

"Gentlemen, can we please move along with this meeting." Snape reluctantly returned to his seat, still glaring daggers at the old Auror.

"Now controversy aside, this meeting is just to decide how we shall meet Mr. Darracun when he returns tonight. Let's simply take a vote and be done with it. All in favor of accepting Mr. Darracun?" Five hands were raised, with Moody and Molly in disagreement. Dumbledore didn't vote on the matter.

"Good the matter's settled then, we'll invite Mr. Darracun to join us."

"We still have to test him under veritaserum." Moody grumbled.

"Alastor, we test everyone under veritaserum." Mad-eye was silent.

Harry stirred the bubbling cauldron three times clockwise. The crushed lavender petals vanished into the boiling concoction. He sighed and then backed up, the next step wasn't to be preformed for another four and a half minutes and all the ingredients were ready. While his potion making skills really had not improved much in the year he had been away from Hogwarts, his ability to follow directions in a book had greatly increased. This particular potion had to be perfect as it broke down in just under twelve hours and took four to brew correctly, he wouldn't have another chance at this. There was simply no time to try again before he was due at the Order meeting.

_Dirimemi Memorias_ affected the drinkers memory, it was in a sense a temporary oblivation, except that it left no signs that obliviation usually left, and unlike oblivation the memories would return in about six hours. The memory marker spell he had used on himself earlier was ready to go, all he needed to do was complete the potion and drink it. From that moment on until sometime tomorrow morning he would be Dimitri Darracun and would completely forget about Harry. If he didn't remember being Harry he couldn't give himself up to any truth potion.

His watch beeped alerting Harry that the four minutes had passed. He picked up the powered chimera liver and the golden ladle.

_Five seconds._

He held the powered substance over the cauldron.

_Four._

_Three._

_Two._

Harry sprinkled the powered into the potion as was instructed, it began to froth and hiss, but he was ready. Dipping the ladle in he stirred twice clockwise and then three times counterclockwise. The mixture settled down and turned a lime green, it was ready. He took it off the fire and set it aside, it had to cool to 37 (Celsius) degrees and then he had to drink it before it cooled any more. That would take several minutes so he took the time to clean up his workspace and leave a note for himself to read afterwards. It was important that he saw nothing that would make him connect himself to Harry Potter or he wouldn't be able to lie under veritaserum effectively.

After double checking that his disguise was in place Harry picked up and drank the lime green mixture. Sadly it tasted nothing of limes, actually he thought he detected a bit of spleen before the potion began to work and he blacked out.

Dimitri came to shaking his head, it felt like he'd gotten sat on by a dragon. Stumbling a little Dimitri picked up the only thing in the room, a piece of parchment. That was a mistake, with a tug behind his navel Dimitri landed in a heap.

"Fr'ing portkeys." He cursed as he stood up, thankfully no one was around, in what looked like a muggle park. Grimacing at the taste in his mouth Dimitri looked down at the parchment and read the short message.

Dimitri,

You have a meeting to get to in half an hour, same place as last night. Don't be late and don't try to remember!

At that the parchment burst into flames. Cursing again and dropping it Dimitri wondered if the writer was off his rocker.

_Don't try to remember my ass, that's what you tell someone if you want them to think about it._

But try as he might he simply couldn't. The best he could get was he had been drinking the night before, but before that…

_No matter, not supposed to think about it right?_ Stuffing his hands in his robe pockets Dimitri apparated to the London address he was supposed to be at latter on.

"Hurry up." A dark robed man Dimitri remembered to be Severus Snape barked as he was led inside the ratty old house that served as the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Passing through the parlor and down into the basement kitchen Dimitri took his seat surrounded by senior Order members on all sides.

"Welcome Mr. Daracun. I have to ask you if you would allow us to use Veritaserum on you?" Dumbleodre asked as Snape removed a bottle of clear liquid.

"Of course, it's not like I have a choice." Dumbledore's response of 'there's always a choice' was cut off by Moody's gruff negative. Dimitri stuck out his tongue and allowed Snape to drip several drops of the liquid onto his tongue.

"State your full name?" Kingsley began with the standard set of questions. Even though he wasn't really thinking about it he watched himself answer Dimitri Valkus Darracun, in a monotone. Dimitri tuned them out as Kinsley asked for his date of birth, and his age. These weren't important question or anything.

"Are you a supporter of the Dark Lord Voldemort?"

"No."

"Have you ever used an unforgivable curse, if so then which ones?"

"Yes. The _Avarda Kedarva_ and the _Maak Beenderen Vloeibaar_."

"What?"

"It liquefies the victim's bones; it's considered an unforgivable in Denmark." Kingsley clarified.

"If I ordered you not to use those curses would you still use them when I had no way of knowing?" Dumbledore continued.

"It depends."

"On what?"

"If I was confidant that I could handle the situation without resorting to drastic measures I would follow your instructions."

"Fair enough I suppose. Do you enjoy causing others pain?"

"No."

"What is your life's goal?" Dimitri paused for a second.

"I haven't really thought about it. Wife kids and all that rot I suppose." Moody narrowed his eyes at that answer.

"Any more questions. No, alright, Severus…"

"Are you Harry Potter?" Moody burst out.

"No." Dimitiri answered blankly.

"Are you working for or with Harry Potter?" The grizzled Auror demanded.

"No."

"Are you quite done making a fool of yourself Moody?" Snape asked as he moved in with the antidote.

"I'm not done yet. Are you wearing a glamour?" He got in before the potion was administered. He still got a no and just grunted.

Dimtri blinked a few times as the potion wore off before looking up the people surrounding him.

"Did I pass?" Dumbledore smiled benignly at him.

"Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix Mr. Darracun." Well not entirely Dimitri still had to swear several oaths before the initiation was deemed complete and he was a medallion that was used as a full contact device, rather than just the signal device he'd been given. The whole questioning and initiation had taken about half an hour, which was about how long they had planned it. With a general meeting taking place in about an hour Dimitri was left with little to do but wait. The large red headed woman, Molly he thought, began to cook but food wouldn't be ready for another twenty minutes. For some reason he had a strange hunger for mince pies, but he didn't remember having ever eaten one. Her youngest son, Ron, made an effort to talk to him but Dimitri found something about the boy annoying and quickly excused himself from the kitchen.

It was drizzling when Dimitri stepped out onto the back step. There was a ratty garden shoved up between the brownstones with an oversized tree being the only thing growing that had been planted by the owners. Generic weeds now grew from all the flowerbeds. Dimitri sighed and looked up at the overcast sky. Fifteen minutes until there was food and then another half an hour before the meeting and when he could go. These people, mainly Moody, just rubbed him the wrong way. All so sure of themselves, there was no right or wrong in war, just winners and losers.

"I see you found my spot." The hook nosed man from inside, Severus, stepped out on the porch beside Dimitri and dug through his pockets, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Severus offered one to Dimitri but when he shook his head Severus surged and lit his cigarette with his wand.

There was silence between the two of them, just the light pattering of rain on the awning. Dimitri didn't say anything until after Severus was on his third cigarette.

"How come you hang out with these stiffs anyway?" Dimitri finally asked a question that had been bothering him since the two had met. Severus merely raised an eyebrow.

"One could ask you the same question." He replied.

"That's simple, Dumbledore is paying more in a day than I could make in a week most places. But you don't seem to be in for the money, so what gives?"

"My reasons are my own." He answered coldly.

"Fair enough. I'm going back in, is the red head's food any good?" Severus turned and followed him in, a freshly lit cigarette still in his mouth.

"It is..." He paused for a second, seemingly trying to find the right word. "...acceptable."

Dimitri frowned slightly but then coughed. The smell of the particular brand that Severus liked was to much in the tight confines of the hallway.

"Where did you pick up that nasty muggle habit anyway?" Severus stopped and took a long draw from his cigarette, then ground the tip into a potted plant that Molly had placed by the kitchen to liven up the atmosphere.

"The same place I picked up all of my bad habits, my father." Then Severus swept ahead of Dimitri into the kitchen and ended their conversation.

Thankfully dinner was much better than acceptable. While Dimitri had never had mince pie the taste reminded him of something he'd had before. When the dishes were cleared members began showing up through the front door or by floo, in twos and threes. Dimitri ended up leaning against the wall like Snape and Moody. For different reasons though, Moody was probably worried that someone would poison him and Snape was just being disagreeable. Dimitri had moved to avoid the teens who decided that since he was the youngest other than them he would make an interesting friend.

"Settle down please." Dumbledore had risen from his seat and was calling for order.

"I would like to officially call this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix to Order, so to speak." A few people chuckled at Dumbledore's joke as the old man sat down and activated a dicta-quill.

"As our first order of business, I would like to introduce you to Dimitri Darracun." Dumbledore pointed Dimitri out from where he stood, he got a few smiles, a few scowls and some polite applause.

"Mr. Darracun will be working under Mr. Fletcher in our operations in Diagon alley. Now Kinglsey, if you please the Auror recruitment level reports?" The meeting went on for over an hour, as various members gave reports on Death Eater and Ministry activity that Dumbleodre wanted everyone to know about. No doubt the leaders got together and shared any sensitive information at another point. Dimitri stopped paying attention when the table broke out into a general discussion over the search for Harry Potter. By general discussion a debate over who could express how much they dislike Potter the best.

"Mr. Darracun?" Dimitri snapped his head up from his position on the wall.

"What do you think?" Dumbledore asked.

"Uhh… I think… hmm. To tell the truth I stopped listening to you're debate after you started going in circles." Dumbledore glanced at the other people at the table with an 'I told you so expression.'

"You haven't missed much, but I think that this group could benefit from someone with no personal connection to the issue. What do you think we should do with regards to Harry Potter?"

"He's the escaped convict I heard about earlier right?" At Dumbledore's nod Dimitri continued.

"Well if I were him I would have left the county, gone into hiding among the muggles. Perhaps in Australia, he could almost hide his accent there as opposed to the US. Is his image circulated with the muggles?"

"Of course, do you think we're that moronic?" Snape bit in.

"Alright, maybe he just drowned. Ever think of that!" Dimtri shot back.

"Gentlemen, calm down. Harry is not dead, but thank you for your input Mr. Darracun." Dumbledore cut into the growing argument.

"As we've covered everything that needs to be said I'm going to call it a night before I need to get more parchment for the dicta-quill." As people began to stand and make their way towards the exit of the room Mungdumas came up to Dimitri.

"We need to set up your duties, but we can do that tomorrow. Tonight we need to go celebrate."

"Celebrate?"

"Right, tradition. Oye, Snape, Kingsley, Moody. We're going to celebrate."

"We are?"

"Yes, we are."

"Count me out." Moody said as he hobbled off.

"Who's buying?" Was the only thing Snape said.

"The new guy of course." The spy shrugged.

"Why not."

And that was how the four of them found there way to Devil's Paradise, an upscale place off of Knockturn. The bar itself was crowded but the upper tables they were seated at had plenty of space, and privacy, which was one of the reasons they were there. On the lower level a cheap band played one of Cynithia Warbeck's new releases.

Much to Dimitri's displeasure each of them had expensive tastes. Couldn't they have stayed with some common Fire Whiskey, or the watery beer he was drinking? Snape seemed eager to kill his liver, having gone through two dragon breath cocktails already. Kinglesy was drinking some fruity shit, and Dung was keeping to Odgen's finest. Between these three he would be broke for the rest of the month.

"We need to get a game going." Flecther slurred out after his fifth goblet.

"Tariot." Supplied Kingesly.

"Haven't played that in years." Snape offered. The man must have been using sobering charms; he was way too lucid after almost a pint of hard liquor.

"Then it's settled. Dimitri go get us a set." Sighing Dimitir rose and walked over to the manager of the gaming den. Several games could be purchased for the night. Dimitri brought back the components of the Tariot game and set them up. Tariot was a card game played with a deck of Tarot cards. Each card was assigned a positive or negative value and the object was to make positive or negative 25. The game had an added complexity in that a crystal ball placed in the middle would randomly change the face values of some or all of the cards in the deck. Dimitri tapped the crystal ball with his wand to start it up and placed it in the center of the table.

"How much for each game?" Kingsley asked.

"Two galleons for the game put and five sickles to a hand pot." Each player tossed in the requisite funds and Dimitri shuffled up and dealt. In Tarriot each player received two cards, one was placed face up on the table and the other was hidden. At any time you could place a card face up at the base of the crystal ball and its value would be locked in, and protected from random change. Players would take turns choosing to draw an additional card, and placing bets. Dimitri had a seven of swords showing with the lovers card in his hand. As the lovers had a value of negative seventeen he had a rather crappy hand of negative ten. Snape had the fool showing which had a value of zero, Kingsly a two of cups and Mungdumass had the Tower, which was twenty-two.

"Severus?" Dimitri asked the man to his left.

"Hit me." Dimitri slid the top card of the deck across the table where Snape palmed it like a pro. He scowled at the card, as if to force it to change, and then slid a pair of sickles from his pile over to the center. The person to the left of the dealer got to start the betting. Kingsly took a card as well and matched Snape's bet. When Mungdumas took a card he broke out into a grin and raised the pot by five sickles. Dimitri looked at his sorry hand and his much smaller pile of playing money and debated whether to pony up or simply toss this hand. He was about to do just that when the silent crystal ball in the center lit up in a swirl of pulsing lights. The pulses would stop over five seconds and then cards would change, it was warning to place cards in the interference zone. Dung cursed and slammed down his hand in the interference zone. He had the ace of wands, and the two of cups. As the ace was worth one his overall hand added up to twenty-five, a natural Tarriot.

Dimitri sparred a glance at his hand, the lovers had become a king of wands which boosted his hand to an acceptable, but losing twenty-one. Seeing as there was little way to beat Dung's Tarriot Dimitri tossed his hand away signaling he was out. Kinsley immediately followed suit.

"Looks like this rounds mine gentlemen." Dung coughed a little as he laughed and reached out to pick up the small pile of coins.

"You haven't seen what I have yet." Severus interrupted Dung's little victory dance.

"Come off it Snape, I've played with you before, if you'd have had something you'd have played… it… by now." Dung trailed off as Severus slowly laid the two cards in his hand down face up on the table, a two of swords and a five of pentacles. Combined with the fool he had a literal twenty-five, a Fools army. Dung cursed and dropped the coins he'd been picking up. Severus merely smiled as he waved his wand and levitated all the coins into neat little piles by his drink.

The slow playing song that had been playing cut off as the old band called it a night and the next attraction for the night climbed on stage amidst the applause of the people in the lower area. One was on drums another on a concert cello and the leader was playing an Enchanted Lute. Not to be mistaken with a lute that had been enchanted to play itself or anything. The nature of the enchantments on Enchanted Lutes if anything made it more complex to play but gave it a very distinctive sound, reminiscent of a muggle electric guitar. The lutiest trumped several strings producing a discordant feedback like noise that caused several patrons to winch. Then the little band launched into their song, rather appropriately titled _Mermaid Murder_. Dimitri was reminded for some reason of what mermaids sound like above water, not that he could remember hearing one before though.

As the night went on Dimitri won some and loss more. Kingsley was good but played too conservative. Dung was simply drunk and broadcasted everything he did. Severus on the other hand, well he should have been drunk too but either had been casting wand less sobering charms on himself or had the stomach of a goat. He was currently shuffling the cards with a fancy rifling technique and a small smirk on his face, and most of Dimitri's money for that matter. With the barest flick of his wrist Severus sent cards sliding across the table to their recipients. Dimitri looked at his card and scowled. The ten of swords in his hand and the five of cups face up left him with a crappy fifteen.

Severus was showing an Ace of wands and from his smirk probably had a decent hand. Kingsley had an eight of pentacles and seemed to be sweating a little more than usual. Dung was smiling at his the Devil card sitting in front of him, which was worth 21. Kingsley took a card and made an unpleasant sound before remembering where he was. He raised the pot by the minimum amount. Dung took a card and raised the pot by another two sickles. When Dimitri pulled his card he shuffled the ten and the seven of cups he'd drawn.

_Could he pull it off?_

_Yeah he'd done it before with weaker hands, and twenty two wasn't that weak._

With a grim smile Dimitri pushed his remaining pile of sickles into the middle.

"All in." It would have been more dramatic if he had more than twenty sickles left but you work with what you have. Severus' smirk lost just a little of its mirth, for a second before he turned back to his cards. Severus left them face down on the table except when to glance at them.

"I'll meet you." Severus having far more coins than Dimitri simply pushed twenty two sickles forwards. Severus turned to Kingsley who had lessened his collar and was sweating in earnest.

_What was wrong with him anyway?_

Still he took another card and then stared at it. Then at his hand and the face up card on the table, before throwing his cards down and standing suddenly.

"I'm calling it a night guys, I gota go." At that he strode out the club as fast as he could, completely ignoring their calls to stop. Snape flipped over the cards that Kingsley had vacated. He had a seven of wands and the death card. He'd just drawn the high priestess.

The death card had a value of negative twenty five, and as such absolutely tanked any hand that is was drawn in. Dimitri himself had lost a round earlier due to one of his good cards morphing into death. Kingsley's seven and eight canceled out the high priestess that he'd drawn giving him a negative twenty five again. Any combination of the death card that meted negative twenty five was called a death's embrace, and beat every other combination out there. Of course to those who believed in prophecy drawing a death's embrace was about as bad as seeing a grim.

"Didn't know Kingsley was superstitious, either way I might as well call it a night." Dung rose knocking over his cards and coins. Reaching under the table he picked up a fallen card and handed it to Dimitri.

"You dropped this."

"I did?" Dimitri turned the card over and noticed immediately that it wasn't a simple Tarriot card.

"Right, thanks." Palming the odd card Dimitri watched Mungdumas leave before turning to Severus.

"Play for the rest of the pot?" The dark man shrugged.

"Why not." They both turned their cards face up and promptly started laughing. During the commotion the crystal ball had activated and no one noticed. His decently strong twenty two was now a worthless eight. Whatever Severus had, fared no better as he now had a four and a two and an ace in his hand.

"I see the crystal ball screwed you too."

"Indeed." Dimitri picked up the pot and the two of them split the funds that Kingsley had left behind during his sudden retreat. Dung had managed to take his winnings with him.

"Seeing as how everyone else has left I shall also take my leave."

"But the night's still young and there are many bars left in London." Severus turned and gave Dimitri an odd look.

"I don't do fun."

"You were pretty good a few minutes ago." When Severus turned to leave Dimitri spoke up.

"Know what your problem is? You need to get laid."

"Are you proposing to help me with that problem?" Severus asked his voice laden with a hidden threat.

"If you swing that way, no, but I know I guy in Budapest who..." Seeing the grimace on Severus' face and realizing he had been bluffing Dimitri stopped. "Actually I had some bar hopping in mind." Severus spun away.

"I'm a greasy bastard, who would want me?" He asked the air.

"Don't know but then again, that's what booze, magic and muggles are for."

"Cursing muggles is illegal."

"Who said anything about cursing my friend." Dimitri slung an arm over the older man and guided him out of the pub and into muggle London.

Dimitri wasn't sure about the name of the bar they now sat in, and didn't really care. This was third bar they had visited as the first two had no women that interested Severus. The beer had though and the two of them had burnt a sizable hole in Severus' winnings but as both were rather drunk now neither really cared. They currently were seated at a table watching, and attempting to comment on a muggle game on the picture box. Severus said it was called football but didn't elaborate who had taught him how to play. One of the players was being thrown out for head-butting another so it was all good. A tap on his shoulder brought Dimitri out of his stupor.

"Found one you like then?" Severus absently nodded. He was looking at a pair of women who had just entered the bar.

"The red-head or the blonde."

"Definitely the red-head." She was pretty, enough, if a bit short and small and flat and… Ok she wasn't even comparable to the blonde that was next to her but to each his own right?

"All right watch closely." Dimitri pulled his wand out from beneath the table.

"Under ICC treaties the spells limited to being used on muggles by wizards are limited to aversion wards and all variations there of. But with a little bit of work a muggle aversion ward can be flipped to a muggle attraction ward." He waved his wand beneath the table chanting softly in Latin.

"And just as muggles can be keyed into aversion wards they can be keyed into attraction wards." He unobtrusively pointed his wand at the girl in question and finished casting.

"She will now find her self paying much more attention to you than she would otherwise. You of course have to do the rest. Now call the waitress and buy those two ladies a drink."

Harry awoke with what probably could have gone down in the history books as the world's worst hangover. That memory potion wasn't supposed to do this, what the hell had Dimitri done? Even his breathing hurt his head. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes Harry shook his head to clear out the cobwebs. Bad idea. When the world finally stopped spinning Harry got his first look at the world around him. He was in a muggle apartment, the humming ceiling fan and the tele attested to that. From the slivers of light sneaking in beneath the thankfully closed blinds Harry was certain it was late morning.

Looking down more of last night came back to him. Her name was Cynthia, he thought. She was currently using his midsection for a pillow on the couch they were sprawled over. Had they? A glance further down showed that while his shirt as missing his trousers where still fastened. And he was certain he would have divested her of her top if they did. More inquiry into that event brought up the memory of them snogging and her passing out on top of him. Of course more thought into last night brought up Rebecca, and Snape. Harry jerked his head sideways and when everything stopped spinning he starred at the closed door to the bedroom.

Merlin, he'd been nice to Snape! He'd even touched the git in a friendly gesture. He'd helped him get laid. Oh he was so going to hell for last night. With a groan at his sudden movement Cynthia came to and smiled at him.

"Morning." She purred seductively.

"Uhh... Hi."

"What, no friendly greeting? Let me fix that." She said starting to unbutton his trousers. Harry scrambled backwards, pushing her away.

"What's wrong, you were much nicer last night." She pouted.

"Well you see, it's..." Harry leaned in close to her, Cynthia did the same until their lips were almost touching.

"_Oblivate_." Harry pulled back, Cynthia's eyes had taken on a blank look.

"You completely enjoyed last night but have no plans on it being anymore than a one night tryst." Cynthia shook off the effects of the oblivate smiling at him. Harry took the time to dress and Find his robe that he'd passed off as a trench coat last night. It was on the ceiling fan. After leaving a note for Snape when he came to Harry excused himself and apparated home for a much needed hangover potion.

It was only during breakfast around two or so that Harry found the playing card that Dung had given him. The back was like a standard tarrot card but the face was Dumbledore's chocolate frog. Unlike the normal frog cards that were just wizarding picture this one sat up and began to talk when Harry finally paid attention to it.

"Morning Dimitri." The image of Dumbledore began without delay, sounding exactly like Dung.

"Seeing as how last night was pretty busy I've started you out on the night shift, you can thank me latter. Meet me in front of Gamble & Japes at closing, that's 240 Diagon Alley at five PM. Wear something dark, we're going hunting." Sighing and realizing that he didn't have nearly as much time to go back to sleep as he'd originally planed Harry went back to eating. On the bright side he now had a friend in Snape if he could keep up the nice facade when around the git. If he slipped up Snape would probably catch it and bullocks everything.

The summer sun was still high in the sky when Harry arrived at the joke shop. Dung was rather easy to spot considering. The man obviously subscribed to the motto 'hiding in plain sight' because he was quite loud in his greeting of an 'old drinking buddy.' Loud enough in fact to get several mothers to drag their children away early.

Four hours latter found Harry trailing a man down Alverst lane. The man was a suspected mole and Harry's job was to find out who his contact was. So far it had been easy, his target was very skittish, looking over his shoulder every other minute, but had yet to notice Harry. Harry on the other hand had spotted two would be stick up artists and with a glare had warned them away from his mark. The man obviously didn't venture this deep into the slums often and his expensive robes stood out like a beacon, attracting all sorts of the wrong type of attention. He was almost so bad at that he could be bait. But Harry was on the watch for tricks and had seen none. He'd set his watch to vibrate whenever anyone focused their attention on him and so far it had no more that twitched outside of a few warnings when someone looked at him as he passed them.

When his mark ducked into a smaller side street Harry passed the alley, all the while looking for anyone else watching his target or watching him. Nothing. He checked his watch, nothing. Turning around Harry entered the alley and picked up his pace to keep up with his target. Silencing charms on the soles of his feet prevented the man from hearing his footfalls on the otherwise empty stretch or road.

So it caught Harry completely by surprise when an arm flew out of the wall and grabbed him. Instinctively Harry shock the man loose and drove his other into a second assailant that had jumped out at him. As Harry dived away from the ambush the wall faded away, to reveal three dark cloaked men. Harry arose taking aim with his wand.

A sudden shock from his watch was the only warning he had before a hard length of wood pressed into his neck.

"_Stupefy!_"

And then darkness...


	10. Not so Imaginary Beasts

Author's Note: This has been far to long in coming. Sorry for leaving you with a cliffhanger as well. I hadn't expected to take this long as the fight scene had already been written. At this point its safe to say that this is more or less abandoned. I'd like to say that the next chapter will be ready in a month but it will more likely be a year or never. Thanks for reading along.

Chapter 9

"_Evenerate!_" Harry jolted back into consciousness, his senses reeling. Remembering the situation that had knocked him out he tried to stand, only to find himself unable to move. Looking around, Harry took in the situation around him, and none of it was good. He was seated in a plain wooden chair-sticking charms must have been keeping him in his seat-and, likewise, his arms were stuck to the table in front of him. A bracelet of unknown origin was clamped to his right wrist; it must be a suppressor of some sort.

What was most disturbing about the room was that he couldn't see even halfway across the table. Apparently his captors were using the same shadowing charm that the Death Eaters had used.

_Come to think about it that's probably how they ambushed me._

"Good, you're awake." A voice said. Harry looked around for the source but it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He was certain that the shadow charm hadn't done that the last time. Harry chose to remain silent.

"We are very disappointed with you Mr. Darracun, but you know that don't you? That's why you didn't contact us when summoned. Yes?" Deciding that lying would get more information out of his captor than remaining quiet Harry spoke up.

"I was going to contact you, really. I was."

"Of course you were, right after you finished reporting to that muggle-loving fool. You see our lord remembered you from Azkaban, he was most displeased with you. In fact as soon as our enchanter gets done with the portkey, you're going to be meeting with our master face to face. I can assure you that your death will be most unpleasant." Harry heard footsteps echoing around the room as the voice paced back and forth.

"By the time our lord is done with you... Well, you'll be begging for death." The pacing stopped.

"But I could help you. I have the ear of the dark lord, I could put a good word in for you, if of course you were to make it worth my while. The location of Dumbledore's base perhaps?" At that Harry laughed.

"You're trying to do a good Auror/bad Auror routine by yourself?"

"Look boy," The voice growled, "the portkey will be ready in a minute. You can chose either to tell me what you know and earn a quick death, or my master will torture it out of you."

"Hmm." Harry took on a contemplative look, all the while gathering magic around him.

"How about option three? I just kill you all." Harry transformed and used his magic to stand regardless of the restraining spells. Or at least he tried; all that happened was that he flopped back in to the chair gasping.

He couldn't transform!

Harry's eyes franticly darted back and forth before coming to rest on the bracelet.

_It's an animus suppression bracelet. I should have recognized it before. _Animus bracelets didn't stop spell casting per se but made it impossible to attempt an animagus transformation.

"That's killing us all." A second voice said. "Just stun him, he might try something." Inwardly Harry cursed, an animus suppression bracelet would not only stop him from transforming, but it would also significantly reduce his wandless abilities, and there was no way he could get it off at present without taking his arm off. The locking mechanism was too complex for the brute force approach that came with wandless, magic and even with a wand it would take him a good couple of minutes to unlock it. Of course if he could get the wand that locked it, it would be a cinch.

Suddenly the shadow ward fell. He was in an empty stone room, a pair of chairs and the table being the only pieces of furniture. There were three black-robed men standing around him, one of them leveling his wand at him. When the man began the wand motion for the stunning spell, Harry acted. First a wandless finite incantum canceled the sticking charms, then Harry jumped to his feet and lunged to his side, grabbing the nearest man and spinning around behind him. The finite incantum had practically drained him, he'd not be able to cast another spell for several minutes. He needed the bracelet off or a power boost.

_A power boost._

Overcoming their shock at his sudden movements both men raised their wands and Harry's hostage started to struggle. Not giving them any more time Harry bit down into the hostage's neck, hard. Fangs had grown at the idea and he easily punctured the man's neck. As his victim went into shock Harry wrested his wand from him and used it to block the spells that were being sent at him. As the blood coursed down his throat Harry could feel the very life force of the man draining in to him, his life, his magic was his. His!

"Dear Merlin!" one of the others managed to get out. The third simply regarded Harry with a cool expression before shouting out "_Avada Kedarva."_

Jumping backwards Harry allowed his victim to take the killing curse and responded with a ribbon severing curse. The pink streamer that the curse caused tore right through the shield that one of his attackers had erected and removed the man's wand arm when he tried to use it to shield his body. As the first man fell to the ground screaming Harry turned the curse on the other man, only to have it the streamer wrap around a cylindrical pale blue shield the man created around his wand. With a tug the man just about ripped the wand free of Harry's hand, off-balancing him enough that he had to dive behind the table to avoid the next curse. The Death Eater took the time Harry was under the table to cauterize the bleeding stump of his partner's arm and take the wand from him.

"You're resourceful, I'll give you that. But I'm certain my lord will understand when I deliver your carcass to him, sliced to ribbons!"

The man cast a wide beam-severing charm that Harry blocked using the rather specific shield needed and then dived aside to dodge the more general cutting curse that his foe launched with his other wand. Most people who fought with two wands used them the way you'd expect from knights of old. The one in their good hand concentrated on offense and they shielded with their off-hand wand. Not so in this case; the man essentially wielded two swords. This was especially true since he seamed to favor the hard-to-block cutting curses almost completely. They quickly feel into a pattern, him casting wide beam slicing, severing and cutting curses and Harry blocking some but being forced to dodge more. Even then Harry found himself taking hits to his limbs to avoid a potentially lethal hit. All Harry needed was a second or so to gather his wandless magic about him and he could launch an offensive, but at the rate the battle was progressing he wouldn't even have that.

Transfiguring what was left of the table into a sheet of metal Harry flung it at his assailant. While it never got close enough to damage him, it intercepted a pair of rending curses and gave Harry the breather he needed. Harry twisted around and threw himself in front of a raking charm to avoid the decapitation hex that had come with it. Twisting in mid air the hex caught him in the shoulder blades, shredding his robes and leaving claw-like gouges down his back. They hurt but wouldn't be lethal. It didn't matter though, the time that he hadn't been casting had been enough. Still falling to the ground Harry focused a spike of his power through the stolen wand and into the animus suppression bracelet. Even as Harry hit the ground and pain shot through his every limb, power flooded into him as the wet blanket effect of the bracelet was removed. Harry transformed and teleported several feet back, just missing the two curses that tore the floor he'd been laying on until a second before to pieces.

Unfettered by Harry's sudden movement the Death Eater raised both of his wands to an en-guard stance and began to incant another spell. Not giving him the time to finish casting Harry unleashed his full aura and directed it at the man. The Death Eater staggered backwards and fell over as if hit by a psychical force, as the luminescent charm in the room flickered and died. His companion, whom, Harry assumed had fainted earlier was now screaming but Harry ignored him and floated towards the fallen Death Eater. Harry was tired, hurt, but more importantly, pissed and this man's soul would make fine penance. So focused on that single-minded goal of feeding he was that he let his aim drop as he crossed the room.

Harry reached down to grab the fainted Death Eater, morbidly wishing he was awake so Harry could hear his screams when the man's eyes snapped open. It was then when Harry realized he had walked right into the man's field of fire. Before he could do anything the man spoke.

"_**Expecto Patronum!**_" Harry vaguely noted that the partonuss was a dog the size of a Great Dane before it head butted him. Some-where in his mind he knew that a partonuss would pass right through solid matter, but that somewhere was drowned out by every single nerve in his body firing at once, in pain. Harry was flung backwards into the wall with a force that broke at least a few bones. If the cruciatus was agony this hurt like every molecule in his body was trying to tear itself apart. Harry might have blacked out but when he finally came back to himself a few seconds had passed and the Death Eater was struggling to his feet. As the man raised his wand and began to mouth the words that would end him Harry tried to move, but nothing happened. It was like the world was moving in slow motion, and he wasn't moving at all. He tried to teleport but only received more of the mind-numbing partonuss pain as a reward.

The Death Eater finished the first word and his wand was now glowing a definitive green. Harry tried to move once again before slumping back. If blood lust and anger had got him here then maybe he should die with what little of his humanity remained. Slumping his head and resigning himself to death Harry transformed back to himself. And time suddenly sped up.

After all of that the caster made a rookie mistake and aimed for his head instead of his chest. When Harry dropped his head in defeat the spell sailed over him and into the wall behind him. The backwash of the curse was close enough to cause him to bleed out of his ears and nose but he was alive. Everything seemed frozen for that instant. Harry could have laughed but instead he acted. Whipping his wand upwards Harry caught the stunned Death Eater with a wave of raw force.

The man went flying backwards, landing against the far wall with a thud similar to the one Harry had just made. As Harry struggled to his feet, ignoring the fact he couldn't feel his right leg the Death Eater did the same. Harry's blast of magic had opened a deep gash in his foe from his mid-thigh to collar bone that would bleed out if he didn't get medical attention immediately. Of course Harry was in no better condition. The man smiled but didn't speak as he twisted his wand in a half moon motion that Harry recognized. As Harry raised his wand to the appropriate counter position the man completed the movement and cast what Harry assumed must have been his ace in the hole.

"_**Fulgaris**_!"

The Fulgaris lightning spell went by another name in the few circles in which it was known, the hand of Zeus. It came from a subset of spells that rather than utilize the ambient magic that existed in the air like most spells it used a casters inner magic. The magic from their core or, more precisely, their soul. The magical core of a wizard was extremely potent but at the same time very dangerous to tap. Unlike the low voltage sparks caused by most lightning elemental spells fulgaris called open something equivalent to a true lightning bolt, which could flash fry anything in less than an instant.

Harry countered the spell the only way anyone could, by catching the colossal spark on his wand and using his own magic to steer the massive amount of energy through him and into the ground where it could dissipate harmlessly.

To an onlooker it might have looked like two wizards wrestling with a lightning bolt but that really wasn't it. True the energy was leaving superficial burns across his body as it passed through him but that was not the true battle. The true battle was one of will and magic. If the Death Eater could overwhelm Harry's siphoning abilities he would win and the lightning would cook Harry in an instant, but if he ran out of power before Harry broke he would collapse and wouldn't have anything left with which to defend himself.

For his part Harry hurt all over, just because he wasn't dead didn't mean that it didn't hurt. The magic he was channeling through himself was keeping him alive but did nothing to deal with the pain, from his previous wounds nor from the surface of his skin, most of it was cracked like a really bad sunburn. Feeling an intensification from his opponent Harry screwed his eyes shut even tighter as the arc of blindingly bright plasma between them increased in size. His muscles where jerking from the energy flooding his nervous system, his heart probably was beating irregularly. It didn't matter he was still alive by sheer willpower now, and more willpower was all that would save him. He was tired and it would be so easy to give up and let the pain end, but he couldn't. He had things to do, a promise to keep, and miles to walk before he could sleep. So he endured.

After what seemed like an eternity of pain, but was really about ten seconds, the magic at the other end began to trickle out. The Death Eater made a few attempts to maintain the current but the arc of lightning shrank to a spark and then it flickered and finally died. He sagged to the ground and then, as his legs gave out from under him, fell in a heap. Harry fared a little better, only falling to his knees and vomiting everything he'd eaten today. The lightning had actually helped him, it had closed all the wounds that he'd accumulated. He still was going to have to take a bath in burn cream and regrow most of his hair but he wasn't in any danger of dying from blood loss, he hoped.

Stumbling over to the other man, he felt for a pulse but found none. Harry let himself fall then and sat beside the corpse of his enemy while trying to gather his bearings. The man had poured everything he had in to that spell. It was the danger of using the very soul of your being to power a spell. Overuse didn't cause exhaustion, it caused death. Looking around Harry noticed that the other man in the room had caught a stray tendril of lightning and was now nothing more than a charred mass of carbon.

The deathly quiet of the room was broken when the door opened admitting the man who must have been the enchanter. He was holding a piece of cloth that must be a portkey, Harry figured. He was young and clean-shaven, and currently gaping like a fish and grabbing at his wand. Harry pulled him self to his feet as the man leveled his wand at him. It was shaking so that Harry assumed that he'd never be able to cast a spell.

"Wha... wha..." He tried again. "What a... are y-ou?" Harry shifted and locked eyes with his interrogator, the man practically pissed himself, dropping his wand, screaming and turning to run.

_I must look a total fright. _

Harry made a gesture with his wand silencing and summoning the man to him.

_What to do with him?_

_I could just stun him and obliviate him..._

_But he's a Death Eater and that might come back to haunt me. I should dispose of him._

_He's just a kid though, not much older than I am._

_He'll grow up._

_True. The book said that blood could increase healing._

Grabbing the flailing man Harry sunk his fangs into the man's neck. His victim went limp as Harry drained the life out of him. He still couldn't transform, but he wasn't bleeding and the magic of the blood he'd just consumed was knitting his bones as he moved.

Had anyone survived they would have told a tale of a demon stalking through the halls of the safe house--Some sort of deformed avenging angel. Of course that would have only happened if someone had survived to tell the tale. Harry drained everyone he had found in the safe house and then burnt the place to ground to cover his tracks. He had probably left a good deal of his humanity behind but couldn't really bring himself to care at this point, especially since he spent the next several days re-growing most of his skin and hair. When Dung had questioned him about where he'd been Harry's only response was that he'd gotten into a fight with a lightning bolt.

* * *

Harry rose from his crouch stretching his legs as much as one can when they are perched on a railing. The position was uncomfortable but it couldn't be helped. Two weeks of research had pointed to this place, the only chink in the armor. It had been two weeks since his recovery from his almost disastrous encounter with the Death Eaters in Diagon Alley. It had been hard enough to vanish while he healed, but since he'd taken that impromptu vacation Dung had been pushing him to make up the time. It was only luck that he'd happened across this building.

Well not this one, which he was sitting on, but the squat warehouse across the street. That was the ministry's environmental annex. All the air that ran through the underground office complex came through that building. Said building had been warded well to prevent any attacks, like the one he was preparing. There was no way to even get close to the environmental annex using magic without setting off an alarm. Harry had found one way in though; as the ministry had placed muggle aversion wards they hadn't even bothered setting up a defense against muggle intrusion.

So he continued to crouch on the roof of his current building, which sadly didn't have enough flat space to sit on. From here he had been able to see just about everything that was happening across the street. Right now the evening shift was on in the annex, but in a few minutes the graveyard shit would start and Harry was sure no one was watching the intakes during the shift change.

Right on time the rear door opened and two wizards came out. They would be the tail end of the last shift, walking outside for a smoke before they got off for the night. Harry had been staking this place out for the past week and the men who worked here moved like clockwork. As the door closed behind them he hefted the over-sized launcher over his shoulder. A spell could have done the same thing with much less work, but that would have set off an alarm.

With a metallic twang the zip line slammed into the concrete rooftop, its barbs expanding and holding fast. Harry gave the assembly an experimental tug before tying it off. Nodding to Dobby Harry grabbed the rig and jumped off. The trolley slid silently across the zip line, dropping dangerously close to the workers below when Dobby followed suit. When Harry reached the other side he held the line down so it wouldn't snap up and send the house elf flying.

The house elf stared up at Harry after letting go of his trolley; he clearly wanted to do it again but thankfully didn't shout it out like he normally did. Creeping across the roof to the skylight Harry removed the glass cutting equipment from his satchel. Vanishing the glass would have caused all sorts of problems so this was much more practical, if unwieldy. The device attached itself to the glass by a large suction cup and then cut a circular hole around the area. When this was done Harry lifted the glass out, careful not to lose suction and drop the pane to the ground below.

Lying flat on the roof Harry inched over to the hole and looked inside. The workers were either outside or in the office, good. Motioning Dobby to follow, Harry jumped through the hole he'd just made. He'd much rather have used a rope of some sort for this part but there wasn't enough time to get down and hide the rope before the next shift began. The information he'd gotten about this place had said the primary portal was uncovered so he'd just have to trust. The primary portal was a massive yawning pit in the centre of the floor that he was currently falling into. Air for the entire ministry was sucked in here. If he was right, the spells and filters that kept the air clean were in other rooms or inside the ministry proper. If he was wrong this was going to be a very short fall.

As it turned out he was right and he and Dobby plunged into the inky blackness of the portal. After a brief sensation of disorientation that signified he had passed through the portal, Harry hit the ground. Thankfully portals didn't transfer motion so he only fell a few feet from the other end of the portal into the duct, not the close to thirty from the roof. Harry started to rise only to be knocked back to the ground as Dobby landed on top of him.

"Dobby is so sorry Master Harry."

"Quiet!" Harry hissed. "There may be monitors here." The elf rolled off him and stood, as best he could. It was cramped in the ducts and Dobby had to stoop, clearly Harry would be crawling the majority of this trip. The elf waved his hands around and closed his eyes as he put his unique brand of magic to work.

"It is safe to talk, Master Harry."

"Good. You lead the way." The elf nodded and the unlikely pair set off through the stone ducts of the ministry. After what seemed an eternity of crawling on his elbows that must have actually been about ten minutes in reality Dobby stopped in front of a grating.

"This is the one, Master Harry." Dobby moved back, squeezing past Harry so his master could enter first.

"How long will we be safe?" Harry asked pulling the potion he'd brought along just for this job. The grating was disillusioned to look like the rest of the wall and spelled to the wall, so there were no screws to remove. Vanishing the grate would set off an alarm.

"At least five minutes Master Harry," Dobby replied as Harry poured the magic nullification potion on the grate. It wouldn't have worked on a ward with a dedicated power supply but the grate was simply attached with a permanent sticking charm. The green potion hissed as it contacted magic, but the grate came lose and would have fallen to the ground had Harry not caught it and pulled it back into the vent.

"Are we ready?" Harry asked straining to look over his shoulder. At Dobby's nod Harry pulled himself through the opening and landed in a crouch in Fudge's office. Dobby followed suit but Harry was already at the back wall, turning the life sized portrait of Merlin over so that it faced the wall. The vault's door was made of obsidian, a single keyhole the only feature of the monolithic portal.

Setting down his pack, Harry removed the lock picking devices he'd brought. The key itself was less important than the magical signature of the person using it. As long as Dobby was properly masking the two of them he should have no trouble opening the door. Of course no one had bothered to mention that to the door. Several minutes latter Harry was still fiddling with the final tumbler when Dobby started to tug on his sleeve. Harry ignored him, he could tell he almost had the lock.

"Master Harry we must be leaving, I's cannot be hiding us much longer!"

"Shhhss!" Harry hissed as the final tumbler clicked and the door soundlessly swung open.

"Huh? What was that? Why am I facing the wall?" The portrait had woken up. Grabbing Dobby Harry pulled him into the vault, ignoring the sounds of the waking portrait. Silencing anything Dobby might say, Harry motioned to the file cabinets that were stacked up amidst the gold and treasures that Fudge stored in here.

"Guards! Guards! We have an intruder." Harry cursed under his breath as the portrait started making a ruckus.

"Accio Harry Potter's File." A drawer of a cabinet on the far wall shot out of its home and veered to towards Harry only to fall short as a thick blanket of a magic nullification field activated. The wards were on them. Harry ran forward and garbed the file as the vault door swung shut. Transforming, he shrank the documents and stuffed them in his bag. As the wards began to react to his change in magic Harry grabbed Dobby and teleported them back through the vault door. The wet blanket effect got even stronger as he reappeared in the office. The ward was now fully canceling his abilities out. Of course Harry had one last trick left that he hoped would get them beyond the office and out of the range of the ward.

The Semtex had been difficult to acquire but there was enough in here to probably take out a small building. Harry placed the package against the wall door and wished that he was back in the vault again. He was using the simplest trigger he could to avoid any issues that the magically-saturated ministry might cause. Hiding behind Fudge's massive desk he signaled to Dobby who raised his hands in a protective gesture. The house elf hadn't used any magic since the alarm went off so he should still be able to cast a spell. Hopefuly it would be enough as Harry was counting on the ward expending itself trying to contain the blast. Covering his ears the best he could, Harry pushed the plunger. And then the world exploded.

When Harry opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was that he could barely see--well that and the bells wouldn't stop tolling. Thick clouds of smoke obscured the office, or what was left of it. Drawing his wand. Harry cast a bubble-headed charm, when he saw that the wards didn't stop him Harry was pretty certain they wouldn't be a problem. With a wave he vanished the smoke and took in the office, correction the scorched out shell that had once been the minister's office. Apparently the wards hadn't managed to protect anything.

"Sorry about that Merlin," Harry told the section of wall where the portrait used to hang. Dobby was saying something, but seeing as how they were both deafened by the explosion, Harry didn't even bother trying to listen and instead grabbed the elf and pulled it through the crumbling hole in the wall.

The wards had apparently directed a large amount of the explosion through the external wall because huge potions of the cavernous administrative wing were damaged. Debris had been scatted at least ten meters from the wall and small fires were burning much closer. Ignoring the destruction Harry pulled Dobby through the wreckage as fast as he could. At this point ever Auror in the building would be converging on his location momentarily. Wasn't it lovely how the minister had placed his offices on the opposite end of the building?

As Harry walked across the wreckage that once had been the administrative wing he marveled at how easy it was. As soon as he was past the security barrier up ahead, he was certain nothing would bar him from simply teleporting past any aurors to the surface. Of course just to spite him the floor started to glow. In front of the security barrier Harry saw three red pools of light, each one enlarging like an opening portal. Harry and Dobby skidded to a stop as something began to rise from the floor at those spots. They had wide shoulders and barrel chests that tapered down to a small waist but no legs at all, just smoking, glowing tails. Each of the three creatures regarded him from their skull like faces, flames dancing over their bodies like a fiery parody of a Dijnn. Heliopaths.

"Of all of the awful times for Luna to be right!" Harry swore and then hurled himself to the side as each of the fire demons raised their hands at Harry. This proved to be a good idea as each one launched a pair of fireballs at him, incinerating the furniture near where he had been standing. The creatures blazed so hot that many things were catching on fire and it was getting hard to breathe.

Transforming Harry re-cast his bubble-headed charm. Even with his magic and heat-draining abilities on full, it was hot enough that he was sweating from every pore in his body. As he rose Harry conjured a shield that deflected the fireballs they creatures where throwing. The heliopaths were spreading out, trying to flank him while the lead kept him pinned beneath his shield. Moving to keep them all in front of him Harry returned fire, with a spear of ice.

This turned out to be a bust as the spear had mostly melted by the time it impacted the heliopath. All it ended up doing was to make a lot of steam and upset the creature, which raised its hands above its head and started to collect a massive fireball. Well at least it wasn't attacking right away Harry noticed. Focusing on another one Harry landed a chain of banishing and bludgeoning hexes to the things midsection. It drove it back a little but not through the wall like he had hoped. Its response was unleashing a veritable geyser of continuous fire. Jumping out of the way with the help of a banishing charm Harry let loose with his darkest and most powerful array of curses.

"_Avada Kedava! PeroStagia! Septanclus Mitigma_!" Apparently they aren't immortal Harry mused as he watched the heliopath's reaction. Sadly it just tossed a fireball at the incoming curses. When the killing curse hit the fireball it exploded into a green tinged wave of fire that Harry wisely shielded against. The implosion and soul nova curses both met similar fates.

A high pitch keening sound was the only warning Harry got before the previously still Heliopath acted. With a flash a of light, a thin stream of light shot out of the ball it was holding and began to trace a line towards Harry. Well trace wasn't the right word, the beam of fire flew across the ground slicing everything in its wake in half as it bore down on him. Harry flickered and vanished immediately before the beam would have bisected him, reappearing on the other side of the room. Thank Merlin he had learned the trick Dumbledore and Voldemort had used in their last duel. Flickering was very short line of sight movement but there was no ward that could stop it. The beam changed directions and headed towards him, slicing cleanly through one of the other heliopaths as it did so. The flame demon shrieked in agony and fell to the ground in two rapidly darkening pieces. The remaining two creatures paused, apparently stunned by the death of their comrade.

Taking the opportunity presented by their pause Harry started to chant. This particular spell might take a bit of time but it would certainly deal with at least one of his attackers, he hoped. The center one hadn't stopped casting its laser attack yet and the laser began moving towards Harry again when the floor started to collapse around the hole of molten stone it had burnt while standing still. The second one woke from its stupor as well and started hurling fireballs at Harry. The first one missed, and the second one caught his robes vaporizing a section of them, but Harry didn't raise a shield, he was almost done casting.

"_Eternus Obscurum!" _Harry yelled twisting his wand and stabbing it at the lead heliopath. This spell essentially created a rift in space time in a very small location. The breach was only momentary but the closing rift had a gravitational potential similar to what muggles called black holes. Harry had been aiming at the creature's heart but a blast of one of the fireballs threw his aim off. His miniature black hole hit the orb of fire the heliopath was using. Everything seemed to stop as the miniature sun the thing was holding started to collapse upon itself, almost as if time had stopped. The reactions of the fire demons was almost comical Harry mused, one threw up its arms and if their expressions could be compared to humans Harry was certain the leader was mouthing 'oh fuck.' Then the ball of fire exploded and everything stopped being comical.

"Master Harry Potter! Master must get up!" Harry struggled to open his eyes, only to be rewarded by a bright light. Crying out he slammed his eyes shut and felt around for Dobby.

"What's going on Dobby?" Harry managed to slur out, even with his eyes closed everything was spinning.

"There be a big boom, Dobby is protecting yous from the worst but we must be goings now." The elf was grabbing at him insistently.

"Allright, just give me a sec."

"Dobby doesn't think we has a second. Dobby cannot be holding ceiling up much longer."

"Wait the ceiling collapsed?" Harry asked. Hearing an affirmative from Dobby, Harry reached out with his magical senses. He couldn't feel the pull of the wards any longer. That didn't mean they were gone, but if things were as desperate as Dobby said…

"Dobby, the sock in my pocket, it's a portkey." Harry tried to find it himself but his arm had this annoying prickly numb feeling and he wasn't sure he could feel his hands. Harry could hear the sound of someone fumbling around.

"Dobby has its." Harry felt something pressed to his face.

"Veranda." With a sharp jolt Harry felt himself dragged away from the collapsing room.

* * *

Ameila Bones collapsed into her chair, exhausted. She had been at a party until about midnight and had just been getting ready to call it a night when the floo call had come in. That had been seven hours ago. She expected a lot of things when the floo had flared red, since it was only used for emergencies. Learning that someone had destroyed the entire administration wing had not been one of them.

She had been one of the first to tour the cavern that had been the administration wing and it looked like London had after the WWII blitz. The devastation was complete, nothing recognizable had remained. Not even the wards had managed to survive. Hell, the wizards that had done this had even killed the creatures the Department of Mysteries had provided for defense. She had seen those efreets in action and had previously thought they were immortal. As she sat back and rested her legs she was quite glad that Fudge had snubbed her department all those years ago when he had decided to move the administrations offices rather than give the DMLE a new office. Fudge was back in the old offices on level nine now, not that it mattered: at this point there was no positive spin on what must have been millions of galleons worth of damage to one of the most secure buildings in England. The investigators wouldn't even be able to piece together what had happened for another month or so. Ameila shook her head and summoned her tea caddy from its spot on the wall.

Thoughts of her tea were distracted though by the arrival of a paper airplane. Snatching the plane out of the air she unfolded and read the letter. She had recived a rather large package and the delivery owl was refusing to hand over the bundle to anyone but her. Sighing, she rose and walked out to the mailroom. Sure enough a common barn owl was waiting for her.

"Do we know who's it from?" She asked the auror on duty as she came in, Higgins she thought.

"No Ma'am, I wouldn't have bothered you but the owl has no identifiers and is under some heavy charms." Her attention piqued, Ameila cast a few spells on the owl. It had been charmed to cover not only the sender but even the flight path. She could see safeguards set into the spells that would likely kill the owl and destroy the package if she tried to dispel the protections. It was very good work, not insurmountable, but as the package had no such charms on it, she decided that accepting the delivery would be more useful in the short run. Shaking her head as she reflected on the happenings of the night before she walked up to the bird and held out her hands. The bird turned towards her and dropped the bundle in her outstretched hands after recognizing her magical signature. Once back at her desk Amelia opened the bundle. It was a stack of file folders that had been tied together. Picking up the cover letter she began to read:

_Director Bones,_

_The documents you have before you were taken from the personal files of Minister Fudge. They point to not only him but to a well orchestrated conspiracy by himself and members of his cabinet to defraud and bamboozle the public. Everything before you has been sent to every major newspaper, as well. As these stories will run tomorrow morning you will have the choice to act on this information or to silence the truth. I can only hope you make the right choice._

The message was unsigned.

Amelia cursed and began leafing through the files. Each one bore the ministry seal and had most likely been stolen in that attack on the administration wing earlier that night. There was a lot here, things that she'd been digging into for years. If these were truly from Fudge's records they were very meticulous. Fudge apparently had been ready to sell out everyone around him if necessary. Most of the documents were from around last year at the trial. Then she read over the transcripts of interrogations that had been omitted during Potter's trial. This was the type of thing that brought down governments. If these files had already been sent out to the Prophet, it was only a matter of time, she would need to be in position when the shit started to fly.

Rising she headed over to the floo. A flick of her wand banished the tea kettle and summoned a coffee pot. She was going to need something stronger than tea for what was to come. Possibly some pepper up as well for she couldn't see time for sleep anytime soon.


End file.
